Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto Franchise that belongs solely to Masashi Kishimoto; I do not own Heaven's lost Property, High School DxD or any other Anime I borrow themes from. The only thing I claim is my OC's and original Story Plot.
Author's Note (A/N): It's been a long time coming. Nearly a year since the last update to this story. Depression, depression, depression... It's been a rough year for me to handle with not only the worst case of writer's block that I've ever experienced slamming into me but a plethora of changes and readjustments in my personal life. It's been tough but now after all this time a new chapter is published and it is perhaps one of my longest written chapters to date as an apology to make up for the long and nearly unexplainable hiatus and as a way to finally wrap up the Turquoise Cove miniature arc with all plot points and potential plot holes covered in one fell swoop.
This chapter marks a turning point in Naruto and Hinata's development as shinobi and as individuals as what was supposed to be a simple routine and well thought out raid on a Black Sun criminal base is quickly going to spiral far outside of anyone's control to the point of near anarchy. None present could possibly predict how the night will end and who will be left standing alive but each faction and each individual person forced on a crash course with each other will find themselves in the fight of their lives to make it out the other side. For now I'll just let the chapter speak for itself so with that being said...
So sit back, relax, and enjoy!
Chapter 95
Heroes of Turquoise Cove
'What kind of monster am I dealing with here? How on earth can a boy his age produce such a vast quantity of killing intent? It's far more than I've ever felt in my life!' Ota Hidemichi was beyond the point of terror as the building itself shook from the violent simultaneous release of both Naruto's chakra and killing intent into the atmosphere. His partner Kugo was in even worst shape as he wasn't used to this level of power being exuded by most shinobi, let alone a child Naruto's age.
Coming from the Hidden Steam Village and the Land of Hot Water native ninja such as he and his boss Ota rarely encountered substantially powerful ninja when they were in service to their country and village. It was rare for any powerful individuals to set their sights on the tourist heavy country. There wasn't much to gain in strategic value as you would find yourself sandwiched right up against the Land of Fire and its Hidden Leaf Village and the Land of Lightning and its Hidden Cloud Village with the Land of Frost and its Hidden Frost Village acting as its protectorate state which was a major buffer zone. There was nothing to gain from the hot spring riddled country unless you wanted to sink your teeth into the lucrative tourist attracting market of the hot springs and the revenue that it generated.
If none of those things interested you, then most civilians and shinobi alike overlooked the country as just a location to pass through. The only powerful shinobi that a Hidden Steam ninja would expect to see were the occasional Jōnin led Genin teams passing through on C or B – Rank missions or the occasional full Chūnin or Jōnin led team that had actual business to address whether they came from the Land of Fire's side or the border or the Land of Lightning's to their far Northeast.
For a 13-year-old Chūnin ranked boy to output this level of chakra and killing intent was something completely unheard of in the very minor village that Ota and Kugo came from. It was legitimately terrifying to be in his presence and even more daunting to know that Shoko who was standing right next to him wasn't even flexing her chakra. Ota knew what she was capable of just off reputation alone. Back in the day when he was still loyal to his village, he served in its Security Information Branch which served as its Intelligence Branch that many other major villages such as the Hidden Leaf have. Their main tasks were to monitor and probe the tens of thousands of civilians and occasional shinobis that visits one of their countries many hundreds of hot spring resorts and tourist cities.
While scanning, it was their duty to pick out any irregularities in the tourist coming into their country to determine if any of them were spies that may intend to do their country and village harm. Beyond that they also served as local security enforcers to local tourist towns since their ninja population was so low that they had far fewer ninja outpost around their country unlike the Land of Fire which had thirty-two massive bases like the one Naruto visited. Being a part of the Security Bureau instilled within Ota the knowledge and habit to constantly check out the bingo books of the other major nations to check out potential targets to be weary of and on the lookout for incase they try to enter their country to start trouble.
It was for that reason alone why he nearly immediately recognized both Naruto and Hinata off their appearance alone and why Shoko was an immediate red flag for the information savvy ninja. Because of his talents he worked as an information broker for a number of years after his defection from his village before becoming recruited by the Black Sun organization. Once he joined the criminal organization, he quickly rose through the ranks because of his profession of being a ninja to become a chief security and intelligence advisor to the top brass of the organized crime syndicate. Thanks to his seven long years of service and loyalty to the organization they say fit to have him run this very operation out of a city of his home country as he would have home field advantage and familiarity with the area to ensure the Black Sun's success.
Success was a weak word to use for the numbers and results he was bringing in within just a months' time of establishing a presence in Turquoise Cove. The results greatly pleased the upper brass of the Black Sun and Ota knew that well but now the vagabond of a ninja felt that success was once again to weak of a word to use in this situation as in just as little as under 5 minutes all of his months of hard work preparing for his presence in the city and the actual month of physical work setting everything up was flushed down the toilet by this monster in front of him who he could already tell was far more than what meets the eye just minutes prior, but now… the Special Jōnin wasn't so sure what to classify the blond Uzumaki as anymore.
A monster… a threat… and someone who he needed to get far away from before it was too late. Ota wasn't the only person having such similar thoughts. Atsui in particular and the rest of his squad were all shaken by the immense pressure of Naruto's chakra and the killing intent laced within it. It was extremely potent and not something common in the average shinobi unless they were a dangerous S – Rank ninja or a Jinchūriki. While being a Jinchūriki was part of the equation Darui in particular could tell that the majority of the dark hatred he could sense associated with Naruto's aura wasn't coming from the Nine Tailed Fox.
Spending many years around the Jinchūriki's for both the Eight Tails and the Two Tails gave the Black Panther of the Hidden Cloud an intimate knowledge on what it feels like to be around Jinchūriki since his village is famous for producing Jinchūriki with prominent levels of control over their Tailed Beast. While most never achieve full proficiency the majority of them are usually stable. Killer B is the only notable shinobi of his generation born into the village to achieve total and complete mastery of his Tailed Beast to a level that even far surpasses Yagura the Fourth Mizukage and Jinchūriki of the Three Tails. It is said that the Mizukage is also one of the few perfect Jinchūriki in the world as well.
The hot-headed teenage boy was shaking so bad that he could no longer properly grip his sword in his hand. 'What on earth is he? I've never felt Yugito give off such a malicious aura before and I've seen her use her Jinchūriki power's. It feels so evil… I feel like I'll die just being next to him.' Atsui whimpered within his mind as he was trying to dig deep and find any sliver of courage to fuel the rage that led him here, but he was having a tough time calling upon his resolve in this situation.
Meanwhile Yugito felt her breath shorten as she stared a hole into Naruto's skull who once again was glaring at both her teammate and now this strange ninja who was wearing a strange and unfamiliar armor to her. Both of these men were in Naruto's crosshairs and the tomboyish and reclusive teenage girl was finding it hard to look away from the slightly younger boy who was giving off such a primal aura that it was mentally distracting. Being a reclusive and socially stunted girl caused Yugito to lean in more to her more instinctive behaviors. She mimicked aspects of her inner resident such as her obsessive love of tuna and fish that rivaled Naruto's love of Ramen, a love of milk and drinking water, her propensity to take random naps throughout the day, her need to always be in high up or enclosed spaces, and her need to be alone. She displayed several cat-like behaviors consistently in her everyday life and as such it has increased her animalistic instincts and psyche. With Matatabi being her only true parental figure and guardian who has raised her in her own image since she was two, Yugito as a small child growing up mimicked all of her actions and idiosyncrasies after the massive cat.
A heat was rising within her chest as she continued to stare at the boy and even her own mother figures words were falling on deaf ears even though she knew the enormous flaming cat inside her head was telling her to take her team and run. Matatabi could definitely feel it now, she now knew that her eldest brother Kurama, the Tailed Beast that was formed first from the largest chunk of the dead Ten Tails by their father the Sage of Six Paths was inside of the boy her container was in a trance staring at. The monster cat and demon fox has bad blood between them going back to the spark that kicked off the Third Shinobi World War and the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan. It was a terrible incident that she knew affected her eldest brother for years to come and if he could have his way, she knew he would most likely wipe the Hidden Cloud Village off the map and beat her into submission for her and the Cloud's transgressions against him and his chosen homeland.
Her previous Jinchūriki before Yugito carried out these transgressions on the orders of the Hidden Cloud during its invasion of the Land of Whirlpools which penultimately lead to the country's destruction shortly after and the kickstart that immediately ignited the Third Shinobi World War. But as it stands right now Matatabi was unsure of the exact relationship her brother Kurama has with his Jinchūriki. The rage filled fox is known to be difficult but in the off chance that he was on at least speaking terms with his host then the monster cat didn't want the fox convincing his host to take out his rightful aggression on her host in retribution for things that happened in the past. Matatabi wanted her surrogate daughter as far away from Kurama and his host as possible. She knew her older brother and his very weathered and cynical heart. He's endured the full brunt of the world's hatred on his shoulders more than any of the other eight siblings have had to. It's caused a lot of hatred to pool inside of him and she wouldn't put it pass the enormous fox to kill her host in a petty sort of retaliatory revenge.
'I can't calm him down in the mood he's in now, but I can guide him and hopefully get us all out of this mess. I can see the resort from here and it looks like another ninja wearing these suits as well as four others are breaking into the hotel room. How did they disable the Five Seal Barrier so quickly, let alone know where the four additional tags were hidden?' Hinata speculated within her mind as she had her Byakugan on full blast to its maximum range which easily allowed her to focus in on the private resort on the other side of the bay where the more attractive beaches and attractions were.
Hinata's been training her Byakugan to increase both her maximum range and the high resolution in which she can see detail. Without Iris and to a lesser extent Chaos around her to interfere with her eyesight the Hyūga heiress spent the long three months training her Kekkei Genkai to its limits during her deployment in the Hidden Sand. Their country offered up incredibly challenging obstacles for Hinata to overcome with the constant heavy sandstorms and intense heat made using her eyes extremely difficult and painful.
Gaara, Kankurō, and Temari proved themselves to be gracious hosts and teammates to have as the siblings helped Hinata in her eyesight training in any way they could which was a big help to the heiress, they even introduced her to a few other Genin Squads that they were acquainted with, and it was during this time that Hinata became introduced to a newly formed Genin Squad fresh out of their academy consisting of two girls and a boy. Their names were Shira for the boy and Sen and Yome for the girls. Together they formed Team 5 or Team Shira for his charisma and the girl's combined admiration for him. On a side note, she was also introduced to another squad of potential Genin that had a young girl on it named Matsuri who from just one glance Hinata could already tell she had a major crush on Gaara. It was more amusing then anything Hinata thought she'd find while on her deployment as the social awkwardness the two displayed was just as bad as the start of her relationship with Naruto when they first met as young children barely into the academy.
Hinata herself took a special interest in the girl named Yome due to a special technique she could perform with her rather large amber colored eyes that wasn't caused by a true Dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai. Yome could manually dilate her pupils at will to see incredible distances by bouncing her focused eyesight off of the reflections of microscopic water droplets in the atmosphere around them. The droplets magnify and extend the range of her vision by dozens of kilometers allowing the young 11-year-old girl to see any one spot in her direct line of vision with zero difficulty. Yome's special eyes intrigued Hinata immensely and benefited Hinata's training just the same as she took the younger girl under her wing to not only learn from the noticeably short girl but to in return mentor her and help her increase the potency of magnifying eyesight.
Hinata extended this olive branch of good faith to the young girl's two teammates as well. For Sen, the older girl who was 13 just like Hinata was soon to be turning at the time has refined chakra control and a superb skill in Genjutsu that reminded Hinata of not only herself but of Sakura as well. Sen also was showing advanced skills in Tessenjutsu as well which was a quite common and expected trait of ninja from the Hidden Sand to have since it was their specialty after all. As an act of kindness Hinata instructed Sen on several advanced forms of using her two handheld war fans since it reminded her of Iris and her prestigious skills in the art. Finally, Hinata didn't waste any time in offering up her help to the only boy of the group Shira who instantly reminded Hinata of Rock Lee in the fact the boy had the same condition of not being talented with either Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. She knew exactly what to do in order to set the boy down the right path and as such she invested in some chakra weights and Fūinjutsu Weight Seals to help him train his body in the same arduous spirit that Guy Sensei and Rock Lee which would make the two training addicts proud of that Hinata was sure of.
Taking those three young Genin under her wing while performing her duties in the long deployment meant the world to Hinata who learned just as much from the three Genin as they did from her as a Chūnin despite the fact that all of the were relatively the same age. Hinata's 1 on 1 training sessions with Yome proved to be the most beneficial for her as she was finally able to overcome the mental and neurological disability that she was facing with her eyesight being destroyed by her dependency on Iris's Divine Grace. Unlocking the special divine state of her Byakugan that turns it into a radiant golden color with flower petal markings around the edge came at the cost of it being too much power for Hinata to manage all at once. With the 3 long months away from Naruto and subsequently Iris it gave Hinata the reprieve and breathing room needed to finally heal herself and rid herself of her addiction and dependency on Iris's energy source. It actually gave her the motivation to work harder so that she could surprise both halves of her family at her progress. She sought the approval of both her father and that of Naruto and their shared daughters.
Pushing herself to her limits she adapted to the harsh environment of the desert allowing her to after some time pick out hidden enemies and objects buried beneath large sand dunes and to even see-through immense sandstorms that blew through the turbulent desert. Without Iris to interfere with her bodies normal functions Hinata under the constant pressure of the harsh conditions as well as the imminent threats of enemy shinobi she encountered during her stay had to effectively train her Byakugan back up to normal, but instead the heiress pushed herself even further extending her range far pass its previous limits while also increasing her ability to telescopically zoom in on objects in her view giving her more detailed fidelity on the things she was looking at which came in many lifesaving clutch situations when her enemies were camouflaging themselves against the sand.
Now that she's finally gotten over her temporary disability and inability to focus on anything other than Iris and her radiant glow of holy aura when using her Byakugan it has become painfully easy to track down her surrogate daughter without feeling the negative side effects of looking directly at her. Letting her senses guide her freely Hinata felt her eyesight get pulled directly to the direction of the hotel and not fighting the pull she zoomed in on the room and saw the situation playing out for what it was.
"It's the third shinobi of this group that we are looking for. Kitagawa Mashiro is the one attacking the resort and he brought along four other individuals with him. It would explain the five members missing from the headcount I did earlier. Aria is already responding to the situation, but we should still hurry and finish things up here sweetheart." Hinata knew that this was information that Naruto needed to know and that it was also something that would make him even angrier upon hearing it, but she wanted to keep him grounded and focused on the objective at hand and being an ever-constant presence by his side while verbally and physically engaging him and reassuring him with her presence would keep him as calm as she needed him to be.
The glare tightened up on Naruto's face and that was the only indication Hinata needed to know that the time for waiting was over as a massive surge of chakra exploded from both their bodies before they simply disappeared from the view of everyone present.
Hinata's fast… she's been working for months now on the speed of her Body Flicker Jutsu to be compatible and comparable to her boyfriends' immense speed with his own and that wasn't even considering his actual coveted High-End Skill techniques. As of now she was a rival to his top speed with his own Body Flicker technique and just slower than him when he's using his basic Acceleration technique.
Right now, the young Shī-ō was using his Double Acceleration technique to erase the distance between him and Ota Hidemichi who was closer to him than Atsui and the rest of Team 3. His swords were already out and seconds away from decapitating the shocked Special Jōnin who was only now reacting. "Kenjutsu: Accelerated Decapitation!" The swift attack came in almost too fast for the older ninja to even comprehend. It was only thanks to his years of experience and instincts screaming at him in his mind that he was even able to react at all.
He couldn't even see Naruto coming let alone hear the words coming out of the younger boy's mouth. His body just simply moved on its own raising his arm up to the side of his face at the last possible second which was the one and only thing that saved his life as the defensive chakra shielding tried to block the incoming sword strike, but Naruto was well ahead of his opponents in this regard. Naruto had deviously and maliciously switched the ratio in which his Chakra and Yōki mix with one another so that he could bypass the passive chakra shielding of the armor his enemy was wearing. Now the ratio in his ice swords were flipped so instead of it being predominantly chakra powering his ninjutsu it was now Yōki taking the dominant ratio in terms of energy circulating through his body.
With Yōki being naturally thicker than Chakra his swords smashed through the thin layer of chakra shielding his body and cut deep into Ota's left arm almost severing it in one swing. The metal gauntlets he had attached to his uniform took most of the blow, but it shattered due to the killing force Naruto had put into his swing spraying blood out of the now damaged arm. "OTA!" Kugo screamed at seeing the blood gushing out of his boss's bleeding arm. He immediately jumped to render his boss assistance, but Hinata was right in his path in the next moment he blinked.
Naruto's aggressive momentum carried him out of his swing with one of his swords being knocked from his hands from slamming into his opponent so hard, but he didn't let this deter him as in the next microsecond he lashed out with his outstretched leg and kicked his now empty sword to Hinata who caught it in midair just as Kugo was rushing at her to get to his partner. "Water Style: Water Palm Blade Jutsu!" A surge of water swirled around Kugo's hand sharpening itself into a small gauntlet sized blade of water. Swinging his arm around he attempted to run Hinata through with his technique as the little girl was in his way of getting to his boss's side, but it wasn't to be as Hinata was somehow the quicker of the two.
Catching Naruto's discarded sword in her outstretched hand Hinata immediately channeled her potent Yōki' laced Chakra into the sword on instinct alone. She could feel the potent Yōki of her boyfriend's already infused into the more purplish tinted sword that was normally a clear white color, so she knew what she needed to do. Letting fate guide her hand figuratively and literally Hinata felt a small pulse in her chest of what she now knew to be her mother's Sacred Tama that was left to her at birth. Never performing this technique before Hinata only saw it once a few weeks prior in her battle alongside Naruto and her team against the Hidden Waterfall kunoichi team of spies.
Swinging her borrowed sword around it became coated in violent swirling tides of cerulean Yōki laced chakra that sharpened the blade beyond its normal capability. "Water Style: Water Forge Jutsu!" She executed the technique flawlessly as her sword swing completely overpowered Kugo's attack cutting his entire hand off in one swing while the swirling tides of water around her sword sent out a rushing shockwave of water that pushed him back and started to freeze him over with a thin layer of frost due to the nature of the sword Hinata was holding.
Slamming into a nearby shelf and collapsing into it Kugo let out a wailing scream as the pain of his severed limb and the nail-biting frost encroaching on his stump was excruciatingly painful in ways he's never imagined. The blow he suffered as his back slammed into the metal shelving also cracked at least two of his ribs as he didn't have as much of his normal armor in that area or that of the chakra suit.
'I've only seen that technique once and yet I was able to perfectly replicate it. Is it because it was a Water Style Ninjutsu, or was it because it was used against me? Better yet can this work with any technique as I felt my Tama pulse in that moment?' Hinata was silently shocked at what just occurred as she always lets her mind and conscious float away whenever she's fighting side by side with her boyfriend. They don't need to verbally communicate with each other or pause to strategize in the middle of fights. They know exactly what each other is about to do or setting up to do and they know exactly where they want each other to be positioned in order to make it happen.
She wasn't shocked that he would kick his sword to her or that she managed to catch it on such a whim. It just came as easy to them as breathing to be in such sync with each other. That was a level of cooperation that Naruto only shares with Eva and on occasions Sasuke, especially back when they were getting along before the tension that started to creep up during their mission to the Land of Snow. Their fight against Orochimaru in the Forest of Death was the perfect example of them being in perfect sync with each other.
Meanwhile from Naruto point of view as Hinata's skirmish was unfolding he himself didn't miss a beat as he latched onto Ota's leg and used it as a pivot point to spin back around and lash back out with his sword for a second time on Ota's now weakened left side where he scored a debilitating slash across the man's left eyebrow down into his eye that finished out crossing over the bridge of his nose. Blood gushed out without missing a beat alongside the man's pain filled wails that was easily heard by everyone who was watching this sequence play out in under 10 seconds.
In that time frame both men were down as Ota pushed against Naruto to gain some distance and in return Naruto thrusted his palm forward and a massive, concentrated gust of wind shot out and slammed into the now injured man sending him crashing through one row of shelves and out the other where he slammed into the outer wall of the warehouse on the other side of the building away from everyone else. Secretly inside of his own head Naruto was thanking his past self from two days ago and the diligence he went through with mastering the basic Wind Style: Gale Palms Jutsu from the Wind Scroll Hinata had given him for his birthday.
'Incredible… the raw talent that these two possess is off the charts! They completely disabled both a veteran Chūnin and what appears to be a Special Jōnin based upon the feel of their chakra presence by themselves in under 10 seconds. They were completely outmaneuvered and outmatched from the very beginning, and I can't even tell if they planned that attack sequence out beforehand or if it all came to them naturally between each other in the moment. This… I'm 90% sure that this is the boy Balalaika is secretly grooming. He has to be! The raw talent and power that he possess not to mention him being a Jinchūriki is something she would take an interest in. The fact he also appears to be in the care of Lady Shoko of all people on the planet makes this hunch even stronger. A boy this powerful under the wing of a fellow Titan and already being this powerful despite his age is something Balalaika would be all over… especially if she knew other things that we don't currently know about yet.' Darui was shocked more than his current blank facial expression would allow as he's rarely seen raw talent of this level in a child Naruto's age. It was daunting and nerve wracking.
It also confirmed to him beyond a shadow of a doubt that if Naruto could do that to a Special Jōnin who was around Darui's age in under ten seconds then he would have absolutely no problem defeating both Atsui and Kiyoi without breaking a sweat and if Hinata were to join them it would be completely one sided. As far as Yugito is concerned now an outcome between them was completely up in the air. She was enormously powerful and resourceful for her age and displayed skills of that caliber but against two such prodigies who happened to be even younger than her it could honestly go either way. Especially if he has any kind of control over his Tailed Beast inside of him. Naruto was credited with the solo defeat of Gaara the One Tailed Jinchūriki after all and that was months ago before he was even promoted to Chūnin, in fact that accolade among many others was the reason he was promoted in the first place, and it had little to do with his actual stunning performance in the Chūnin Exam's itself.
Darui now knew what he had to do… his mission was officially canceled. He would not place his team into an unnecessary battle that could potentially end up with them fatally wounded or even worst in costing them their very lives. He had no quarrel with the Leaf Ninja to begin with as while he was expecting and anticipating the Leaf to be sending their own representatives to try and persuade the Daimyō of this country with their performance in their assigned mission he had no idea they were going to be in the exact same town as them during his mission and the fact that both Shoko the Legendary Titan and the Nine Tails Jinchūriki of the Hidden Leaf were the ones he would run across made things exceedingly difficult since it was Yugito who had unintentionally led them directly to them because she had sensed a fellow Jinchūriki in the area alongside an equally massive chakra source.
Due to the rough start their interaction with the leaf went thanks to the rash words of his Genin things instantly became rocky with relations between the two groups. Things needlessly became hostile when they could have remained politely cordial as far as rival shinobi groups are concerned but all of that was ruined, especially now that they received that anonymous and highly suspicious tip that alerted them to the real motives of the Hidden Leaf. Atsui flying off the handle for the second time was more than what Darui was willing to tolerate.
It was clear that the Hidden Leaf were two steps ahead and already had a handle on the situation at hand as it seemed to be their specialty. Just looking at the tattoo on Naruto's shoulder confirmed it for Darui as believe it or not it was a similar tattoo that his own Genin Kiyoi Yotsuki had on his body. The young boy was a part of the native mafia group of the Hidden Cloud Village but based upon the seniority and expertise that Naruto had it was clear that the blond leaf shinobi had years of experience dealing with the criminal underworld. Kiyoi on the other hand never really performed any extensive missions for the mafia, instead he usually managed internal tasks that only ever had him working in their facilities inside the village.
The difference in experience was as clear as night and day and it boggled Darui's mind on just how much accumulative combat experience Naruto must have underneath his belt to be as strong as he is now. Speculating and confirming all of these distinct factors within his mind and keeping in conscious thought Shoko's very presence and the fact that she could easily oppose all four members of his team by herself without any backup solidified Darui's next course of action.
He would return to his village and let his Raikage know the evolving situation and the circumstances surrounding this particular group. There was a lot more going on behind the scenes then meets the eye and that wasn't even taking into consideration the unknown factors of the group of children that was accompanying Naruto's group. Darui still didn't have any intel on them at all which was all things he would need to report to the Raikage as soon as possible. Losing out on a potential treaty with the Land of Hot Springs wouldn't really be any kind of negative blow to their country at all. They've never desired anything from the touristic focused country before despite them having numerous opportunities over the decades to solidify an ironclad treaty with them.
Currently they only had a basic trade agreement with the country to send them some revenue and other amenities that they generate due to their tourism in exchange for added security to their struggling military and products that are exclusively sold in the Land of Lightning.
It was a basic trade treaty and there were no hidden strings attached or underlying obligations that would sour relations between their two countries if the trade deals weren't honored and fulfilled each month. So, losing out now actually meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Lightning Daimyō was an auspicious and opportunistic man who always struck when he saw an opportunity presented before him. The wealth and prosperity of his country came first to him more than anything else, even above his own family in certain instances and seeing a chance to one up the Land of Fire and the Fire Daimyō was something well noted within his known personality to do. While not avaricious and irredeemably greedy, he was nonetheless a very stubborn man when it came to the things that he wanted which was why he ordered the intervention on this mission in the first place.
Unlike the Lightning Daimyō who was just stubborn and opportunistic to a certain degree he's always been wary and cautious when dealing with his fellow colleague the Earth Daimyō. The current Earth Daimyō Ogawa Tsuchi was a very stern, blunt, uncompromising, and conniving man when the time came for it. Just like his name's sake and that which his country and its Hidden Village is named after he was quite immovable like a rock yet when the time came for it, he was not above playing dirty and using sneaky and unsavory tactics to advance his standing and that of his country. Between him and Ōnoki it was entirely their doing that has earned the Land of Earth their reputation of being untrustworthy in long-term alliances and associations.
The Lightning Daimyō has had many long tumultuous relationships and partnerships with Ogawa over the many decades they've been Daimyō together but despite this tension filled association Okabe Hachisuka the Lightning Daimyō could tolerate his fellow leader to a certain extent but he for the life of him couldn't stand the Earth Daimyō's oldest son and crown prince. Danjō Tsuchi was the heir and next in line to be Daimyō when his father Ogawa chooses to step down. The son was the pure definition of avarice, sleaziness, vanity, and narcissism. He was a self-centered young man who only cared for himself and his own vanity and power. He was far greedier and more immoral than his father ever could be, and Okabe dreaded the day Danjō succeeds his father as the next Earth Daimyō.
Okabe's own son Tekkan Hachisuka and his crown prince, alongside Ikkyū Madoka the crown prince and son of Saitou Madoka the Fire Daimyō both hated Danjō and his personality whenever they would meet for the yearly Daimyō summits and get togethers. The three boys on average do not get along in the slightest and while Ikkyū has built up a civil discord with Tekkan despite their two countries rocky past the two prince's both unite in their shared animosity towards the greedy prince of the Earth Country.
The news of this mission failing wouldn't displease Okabe to any noticeable extent. The probability of this mission succeeding are 50/50 at best and the outcome wasn't really important. The more valuable information would be in what Darui would have to report to the Raikage. The updated knowledge of Naruto's group and Darui's own hunches and speculations about Naruto himself would prove itself to be far more informative and valuable to their country in the long term than a simple treaty with a country that they've always done regular business with in the first place. If they never decided to make the much smaller and weaker country their permanent allies or vassals at any point over the last six decades, then there was no reason to think that it would affect them now in the present if they somehow lost out on this chance.
Darui knew all this as his experience and open-minded outlook on the bigger picture allowed him to make long term wise decisions regarding any number of subjects or situations. It was one of the many, but a definite primary reason as to why he was the Raikage's trusted right hand man and sworn closest friend. His council and level-headedness was a quality that Ā relied on to counterbalance his very brash, bullheaded, and short temperament in his rule as Raikage.
Darui knew he couldn't make any sudden movements unexpectedly, but he planned to confront Shoko and make his intentions known that he was going to retreat. He could do nothing at this point to interfere further in this mission when it was so clear that the Leaf had such a major head start and advantage over them in every way. The order to stand-down was on the very tip of Darui's tongue now that he saw both enemy ninjas take such critical hits so early into the fight. If they kept up that pace of aggression and ruthlessness, then the two criminal shinobi and everyone within this warehouse wouldn't last much longer so the Hidden Cloud's presence was no longer needed… or so Darui thought.
Except… the universe just loved to torture Darui today as he watched the look in his student Atsui's eyes change when Hinata landed on the closest shelve to them after completing her attack on Kugo. He saw both the fire and intent to kill hazing over the dark blue colored eyes of his blond-haired student and in a moment's notice the boy was off with his sword out mid swing towards Hinata's seemingly unprotected back.
"ATSUI! NO!" Darui was already moving and so was Yugito while Hinata herself turned on a dime from the awkward way in which she landed on the remarkably high shelving unit to see her would be attacker. Her Byakugan was very much still on this entire time, so she wasn't blind to the incoming threat.
With Naruto's sword still in hand she was quick to bring it up into a parrying strike just as the boy came in with his own killing technique. "Kenjutsu: Cloud Style – Flame Beheading!" Atsui's sword was covered in red hot flames that coated the blade in a shimmering shroud just as he swung for Hinata's neck which was immediately countered by the girl who after years of watching her boyfriend's swordsmanship skills felt completely confident in blocking the initial strike of her attacker. Hinata was no swordsmen, and she knew despite her broad range of skills she couldn't fight a prolong fight against a Cloud Ninja wielding a sword.
The Hidden Cloud Village by population and customs alone among its shinobi had the second highest count of ninja being specialist in swords. The first being the Hidden Mist Village as they created their Legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen group as a unique staple of their village. Every shinobi born into the Hidden Mist regardless of whatever branch or specialty in the military they join receives comprehensive and extensive knowledge on how to wield a sword.
With the Mist having this as something that is a part of the very culture it would be suicide to try and face a shinobi from the Hidden Mist in Kenjutsu, especially if you've never used a sword before in your life. The same taboo could also be said about the Hidden Cloud. Almost half of their ninja forces are very capable masters in the usage of swords and other unique weapons. Together with that combined with their extremely high affinities for Lightning Style and it creates a very monstrously formidable army which had been very dominant since its inception many decades ago.
Hinata knew she wasn't going to fight Atsui for awfully long with a sword regardless of the fact she was a Chūnin, and he was still a Genin. She knew better, and as a Hyūga she's studied a variety of things regarding the Hidden Cloud Village as all Hyūga have been instructed to do, especially ever since her failed kidnapping. The archives of her family vault have kept extensive records of their neighboring enemy for many years and so Hinata knew more about the ins and outs of fighting against Hidden Cloud Shinobi more than she did any other foreign ninja thanks to her family's paranoia of the more militaristic village.
Her sword was once more coated with surging spouts of water as she used her natural flexibility and dexterity to parry the killing strike at the very last second with a second usage of the Water Forge Jutsu. The flames on Atsui's sword were doused in seconds and with his sword pushed off to the side away from the center of his body it left him wide open to Hinata's counter strike who as all Hyūga instinctively know how to do slammed a flowing palm strike to the center of his chest that was coated in her cerulean colored water. "Gentle Step First Dance: Eight Trigrams Sea Lance!" A massive pillar of Yōki enhanced water slammed into Atsui's chest in the blink of an eye sending the boy straight into midair between the aisles of storage shelves and right into the murderous path of a certain blond Uzumaki who was no longer in the mood for any setbacks now that a threat was occurring to his children back at the resort.
Everyone in the building felt the sudden spike of killing intent coming from Naruto but none felt it more that Atsui who was the sole recipient and focus of Naruto's rage and then everyone heard it. It was an infamous and unmistakable sound that has haunted the dreams of both Hidden Stone and Hidden Cloud Shinobi alike since the last great war and now it was something this newer generation was getting to witness for the very first time… but as for Darui he felt his heart skip a painful beat in his chest worst that what Atsui was currently feeling staring down the visage of the most famous attack of none other than the Fourth Hokage himself. 'It can't be…' That was the one and only thought Darui had in his mind as his skin paled in abject horror and realization at just who Naruto might be connected too.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto would ordinarily not use such a lethal attack on a shinobi his age that he's just met in the previous few days, but Naruto's patience was fried at this point. Atsui has been gunning for Hinata out of a sense of vengeance since the first moment he laid eyes on her. Now his rage and thirst for vengeance has drawn him out to them during their mission clearly against the wishes of his team, and all in a petty vain attempt to try and murder his girlfriend and the love of his life. His children were currently in danger, and he was now out for blood. He would let nothing slow him down or stand in his way of racing to his family's side. Any who tried to keep him from his children would die… no questions asked.
Atsui saw his life flash before his very eyes and in that moment Yugito appeared before Naruto in an intercept course with an air of desperation in her posture. Her nails were elongated to nearly a foot in length with vivid sapphire-colored licks of flames flickering off their surface. "Flaming Cat Claw: Sapphire Ember!"
The two techniques clashed against each other in midair throwing out a visible shockwave that rattled the surrounding shelves while Atsui who was mere feet away from nearly dying was blown back through the closest shelf before tumbling to the floor where Kiyoi was waiting to catch him.
A bead of sweat trailed down Yugito's forehead as Naruto's Rasengan began to overpower her own attack easily with its grinding properties and its self-generating power. She knew if she didn't move her hands, they would be blown apart in seconds, so she quickly slashed her clawed hands upwards causing the swirling maelstrom of energy to disperse itself upwards taking out the surrounding overhead hanging lights.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Naruto roared in rage as he was beyond the point of losing his patience with the back-to-back interferences of his enemies. His children needed him now and it was frustrating how he was now being sidetracked by ninja who shouldn't have even been there to begin with. Falling back to everyone else's position he placed his hands in his classic cross shaped ready to create an army of clones if necessary while Yugito quickly placed her hands up in a non-threatening manner to try and placate the rising tension. "We mean you and your squad no harm. This is a big misunderstanding, but I can't let you kill my teammate." The Two Tailed Jinchūriki tired her hand at diplomacy first as Naruto's hand stopped moving for half a moment.
"Please listen to my student. This situation has blown itself way out of proportion and if we allow cooler heads to speak, I'm sure we can avoid needless conflict." Darui supported with a grim expression on his face as he honestly didn't desire a fight with the team in front of him. There was no conceivable way for him to win with just Shoko's presence there alone and with Naruto and Hinata proving themselves to be highly advanced and powerful Chūnin for their ages it made it so they could completely overpower his students and match Yugito in combat.
"If that were true then you need to take your student and leave. I made my intentions known the other day that as long as you stayed out of our way and not make any acts of aggression towards us then we would do the same. Clearly you can't reign in your student to honor our agreement." Shoko pointed out with an edge to her voice that had a nervous twitch tingling down Darui's spine. He knew that it was possible for the Titan to become involved in a physical altercation with his team at which point he knew they'd be completely overpowered. Just as Darui was going to make a rebuttal for this statement an interruption stopped this train of thought immediately.
Unfortunately, several individuals weren't interested in talking as Kugo took this exact moment to appear behind Hinata with his one good hand holding a kunai ready to stab Hinata in her neck. The fact that he didn't even consider the notion that she could still very much see him the entire time due to the simple fact of being a Hyūga seemed to escape the enraged man's mind as Atsui seeing his prey about to be attacked lunged across the room with a jolt of revitalized energy powered by his anger.
This time Darui was faster as he was inches away from intercepting and catching his wayward student when Shoko finally moved from her spot and backhanded the child through the shelf and into the far wall in the blink of an eye before the Jōnin could even blink. Turning his head in silent shock he was then suddenly staring down the much taller woman who was inches from his face before he could fully register everything that just happened. Atsui wasn't the only person blindsided as Kugo suddenly found the kunai in his hand shot into the air with his one good appendage exploding into a gushing bloody chunk by Henrietta taking an expertly timed shot with her wrist launcher to watch the back of her best friend and fellow partner of their shared love interest.
Four large brown scaled viper snakes immediately found themselves wrapped around the maimed shinobi's body who could barely even register the pain in the new stump on his body before all four snakes' bit into the exposed parts of skin simultaneously bypassing his armor completely to inject their fast-acting toxic venom into his bloodstream. Kugo Takafumi was dead by the time his limp body crumpled to the floor as Anko materialized behind Hinata with her typical grin in place. "Looks like we have a party going on in here huh?"
Subconsciously, Hinata was glad to have Anko making her presence known as she deep down didn't want to have to kill Kugo who would have absolutely died by Hinata's hands before he could even blink as she had her palms charged up with a lethal dosage of chakra ready to be discharged into his chest.
"Anko cover me… I need to get back to the hotel it's under attack." Hinata informed her close friend and surrogate older sister figure. Giving a quick glance to Henrietta her fellow shy girl got the message loud and clear as Hinata placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Right… but if that's the case then you should let me come with you." Anko insisted in a serious manner now, but she was quickly cut off by her younger contemporary who shook her head and pointed over to where Ota Hidemichi was to point out the fact that he was fleeing in the background now that attention was off him.
"No, we need to capture Ota at all costs, and we need to prevent him from linking up with Kitagawa who is at the hotel. You need to go after him while I go back to the hotel." It was a lot to process in such a short amount of time, but Anko wasn't a veteran Special Jōnin for nothing and quickly gave the younger girl her blessing who turned to her boyfriend for the last time. "Naruto! I'm going on ahead… I'll manage things back there!" Hinata called out who saw the boy immediately create a clone who she could tell had quite a bit of chakra stored up in it which followed her as she Body Flickered up to the opening in the roof Atsui created with Henrietta in her arms. In seconds Hinata, Henrietta, and a clone of Naruto was rushing off to the hotel while Anko took off after Ota who was rushing out an adjacent side door hot on his heels leaving him no reprieve.
"Control your student boy! This is the second time he's lunged at a girl who is under my wing. You of all people should know that I do not let transgressions against me or those around me go unpunished Darui." Shoko growled in a grave tone of voice while leaking out a hint of her immense killing intent and chakra causing the ground beneath her feet to immediately shatter.
Backing up and joining Yugito by her side Darui once again presented his body posture as non-threatening while stealing glances at his injured student who was grimacing in pain from slamming into the wall from Shoko's backhand. At least two of his ribs were cracked from flying through the steel shelves and into the cement wall of the warehouse itself which was fractured around the origin of his impact. If she wanted to Shoko could have taken Atsui's head clean off his shoulders with her slap, but she lowered the power of her strike to send him flying instead of imploding his body on impact.
"Sensei? What do we do now? I think Atsui's fractured some ribs." Kiyoi called out to his teacher as his fellow teammate and friend had a dazed look in his eye as he watched Hinata jump through the opening in the roof and out of his sight. Atsui had a burning feeling in his chest that definitely wasn't related to his shattered ribs at seeing Hinata get away from him. All of his anger and misplaced hatred came bubbling back to the surface at this sight. He was a stubborn boy who never learned the lesson on when to give up thanks to the dogmatic and militaristic style of environment the Hidden Cloud creates. It was one he was firmly raised in and buying into the propaganda of his father being a hero and the Hidden Leaf being their rivals and enemies was something the hot-tempered boy bought into to cope with the loss of his father before he could really get a chance to know him.
"Take your teammate and return to the hotel. Yugito and I will try and smooth things over with the Hidden Leaf. As of this point our mission is officially suspended. We'll be withdrawing soon." Darui ordered in a very firm and uncompromising tone of voice as he wanted no misinterpretations or ignorance being associated with his command. He meant what he said, and he verbally said it aloud purposely so that Shoko and Naruto who were the only ones still in front of him could hear. He wanted them to know his true intentions as well as he never stepped out of his non-threatening posture of neutrality with his hand away from the handle of his broadsword strapped to his back.
"Lady Shoko… I know things have gotten out of hand, but if you allow my team and I to leave we will immediately withdraw from the city. You and I both know that what happens here can affect both our countries negatively if we resort to violence. War and conflict would come to our homes and that is something we both know we wouldn't want. This incident was something I poorly handled, and I'll take full responsibility for my students' actions, but please allow my team and I to leave." Shoko could hear the sincerity within the younger man's voice which was the only reason she wasn't immediately drawing her sword, but she could tell that Naruto wasn't really in the mood for any continued conversations.
"If you promise to leave immediately then I'll consider leaving this incident out of my report to my Hokage. I too don't wish for any war to befall either of our countries as well. I suggest you harshly discipline your student so that something like this never happens again. If we are to ever cross paths again and your student so much as breathes the same air or even looks in Hinata's direction, then I'll kill him on the spot and consider that a mercy killing compared to what Naruto will do if he gets his hands on that foolish hot-tempered student of yours. Your village's disgusting reputation and penchant for stealing and abducting the bloodlines of foreign countries is going to get you in serious trouble one day, don't make that day be today." Shoko threatened with a growl in her voice as she turned her head away from Darui in a dismissive manner which between the two of them was Shoko's way of signaling him to leave.
Darui himself didn't need to be told twice as he knew that there was little left in the way of a polite civilized conversation that he could have with the Hidden Leaf, so he was keen on leaving as soon as possible. He was seconds away from doing so when everyone felt a massive spike of energy that was originating from outside the warehouse where Anko was last seen chasing after Ota Hidemichi.
A roar from what could only be a beast shook the entire building and dockyard with its unearthly sound and that was when everything went to chaos.
Sapphire Private Resort
The attack came without warning… but Aria was ready as she felt someone disable her master's personal barrier that he placed on the building. She only had seconds to react as she ushered the children into the main living room of the expensive loft they were granted. The main front door as well as the glass balcony door from the terrace outside the suite were both breached at the same time nearly splitting Aria's attention away who was given a heads up to the impending attack by Iris and Chaos who both sensed the disturbance outside moments before it occurred.
Kitagawa Mashiro was ordered to attack and capture the occupants of the room number he was given because apparently enough it belonged to mafia agents who were sent to scope out their base. Kitagawa was informed that those undesired agents were going to be scoping out their base tonight while leaving their charges that they brought along with them unprotected. It was supposed to be a simple affair as Kitagawa entered the front door to the rented-out room with two subordinates flanking him while the last two members of his team came in from the balcony outside trapping his prey in between in a classic pincer maneuver. He was told that they were kids who could be used as bargaining chips among many other uses so he wasn't keeping his guard up to its highest degree which would ultimately lead to his downfall soon enough.
Naho predictably screamed in fright alongside Ai and most of the other children while Iris and Chaos jumped into the middle of the room with Aria and Izō to defend themselves. A tension unlike anything the children have felt since the time they were rescued on Hōrai Island settled onto their shoulders as Naruto has gone to great pains to keep his children out of harm's way ever since adopting them. So far, he's succeeded at this endeavor up until now, and worst yet he wasn't even there to defend them.
"Well, well, well… this should be easy. Nothing but a bunch of children." Kitagawa grinned in a false sense of security and superiority at the thought of catching a group of seemingly defenseless children off guard. While rare he's dealt with unsanctioned missions dealing with children before, and the unspeakable things as a ninja he's been called to do in the line of service have long since scarred his soul, yet he's moved past those haunting stigmas, so he wasn't affected by what he was assigned to do.
Iris and Chaos knew that they couldn't allow the enemy before them to lay a single finger on their siblings. As things stood now, they could feel the wildly fluctuating emotions coming from their father as events unfolded on his side at the harbor. They knew things must be escalating far beyond what they initially anticipated if their father was in the foul mood that he was currently in. The sisters knew without a doubt they wouldn't be able to hold themselves back against their adversaries with the imminent danger their siblings and special VIP guest were in so communicating telepathically to one another Iris and Chaos prepared themselves accordingly.
"I hope you understand that I'll never turn over the children I've sworn to protect, nor will I ever surrender to you." Aria mused to the five enemy combatants surrounding her charges. She wasn't scared or intimidated at the fact she was surrounded or that she may have to fight to the death for the safety of the children behind her. She was a very shy, soft spoken, and gentle girl by nature much like her fellow female friends but underneath that meek exterior was a vicious and territorial guardian.
Aria vowed to never let harm ever befall her charges ever again after the incident many months back when Gaara hurt Iris and Chaos within their own apartment. After that debacle Aria silently made a promise to herself to improve and become more powerful. She was Naruto's most loyal servant as well as personal maid and guardian to the Uzumaki family as a whole. She would gladly die for either her master or his children without hesitation in gratitude for him taking her in off the streets years ago after she helped nearly kill Shoko. She was repentant and determined to prove herself to the surrogate son of the woman who spared her life after she nearly resulted in her death. Getting to know the younger boy and the heart of gold he possessed and the boundless kindness and compassion he was capable of towards others drew the witch in like a moth to a flame and was the spark that lit the flames of both her love and devout dedication to the boy she would quickly soon call master.
Mocking laughter filled the room from Kitagawa's mouth as he couldn't sense any amount of noticeable chakra from Aria or the children around him, so he noticeably had his guard down. He would start paying for that right now as Iris and Chaos finished their telepathic conversation not to mention circulating their energies inside their bodies. "And who says you have any choice in this matter little girl?" Kitagawa chuckled while casually pulling a kunai from his holster in a somewhat intimidating manner which was the final straw for the two siblings as they made their move in a blink of an eye.
"I do." One simple yet commanding phrase from Iris's lips and the air pressure dropped in the room as wind currents blew through the entire expensive flat catching the five mercenaries off guard. Pulling her hands towards herself Iris used her mastery over the element of wind to yank the two subordinates flanking Kitagawa on his left and right respectively off their feet before they could even react. Using her masterful martial arts training Iris waved her arms and the rest of her body around in mesmerizing circular movements sending the two grown men over her head and across the room. Aria herself wasn't idle either as she moved as soon as her little mistress did, throwing out her hand to face Kitagawa whose entire body froze the second he tried to move it. A fog settled over his mind as he saw Aria's eyes glowing blue. "Confusion." The witch intoned with a look of pure concentration and determination on her face.
Chaos's signature eerie smile was in place as her beautiful yet deadly metallic blade like wings appeared floating behind her back. Dark and foul tainted winds began to circulate around her body in a similar fashion to her twin as the young machine girl flexed her malleable wings causing an intense gust of tainted wind to blow the two assailants who breached the terrace outside of the condominium back out the way they came. "Black Magic: Ominous Wind." Chaos giggled in delight as she watched the two black sun agents Iris had pulled with her wind fly over her head and fall off the large balcony to the room. All four thugs fell five stories until they impacted the ground with near back breaking force with Kitagawa following this trend shortly after as Aria used her psychokinetic abilities to fling the shinobi of the group through the room and off the balcony in the same manner as his subordinates. Even channeling a meager amount of chakra to his feet in an attempt to anchor himself to the ground failed as all five assailants were removed from the room before they could retaliate.
"Wow…" Naho mumbled in muted awe as she's never seen the twins in action before and to see the mesmerizing display of the supernatural children before her was a sight she's never seen before. She wasn't aware the two twins had this kind of power within them. To be around the same age yet possess powers like their father as far as Naho knew was surprising. It certainly left an impression on the princess as she watched the two blonde haired girls jump off the balcony to the ground below without a care in the world.
Landing softly on the ground Iris took in the atmosphere of the assailants that was sent after them. Kitagawa was the first one up due to his durability and his shinobi training though he had an unstable sway in his step that was caused by the side effects of Aria's psychokinetic grip. The other four criminals were soon back on their feet and for the twin Uzumaki children they weren't surprised to see that they began to morph and change from a humanoid form into more monstrous and non-human guises.
They immediately knew exactly what the kind of monsters stood before them were since they've faced those multiple times in the past. The first was a seven-foot-tall green skinned Ogre Demon with rippling muscles common to their species. Off his back dropped two impish goblins who chattered to themselves about the prey they were going to capture. The next two each transformed into the same kind of demon that Iris was remarkably familiar with. Two ghoulish tanned skinned Reiki Akuma's with long elvish ears and lanky bodies stood before them with sickly yellow tinted eyes. The final member of the four actually turned into a glowing purple colored stone that was revealed when the simple disguise spell was lifted from them revealing a rather tall stiff looking giant made out of the concrete around them. Its body took on a humanoid form but with stocky arms and legs with a recessed head and a concaved chest that housed the different colored stone. This 9-foot-tall monster was a Golem and one of its abilities allowed it to keep reforming and multiplying itself so long as the stone on its body remained intact.
"You little brats… I wasn't told you had powers." Kitagawa growled in humiliation and pain as he quickly pulled out a kunai while preparing himself. He wasn't expecting this development to arise and judging by the confidence and projection of sheer power he could see reflecting off of Iris's eyes it thoroughly implored the mercenary ninja to take this engagement seriously. He wasn't dealing with ordinary children; he knew that now.
In moments, the twins were joined by their caretaker in the form of Aria and Izō who touched down onto the ground. "It wouldn't have mattered even if you did sadly. There are a lot of things you weren't told apparently… but you won't get time to reflect on these errors today. Your life is forfeited and ends here." Iris spoke in her regal and eloquent tone but for those that knew her they could tell that Sōkyoku's influence was upon her as Iris was far gentler and less prone to taking the dominant stance in battle and she was definitely not one to threaten a person's life.
A terrible gleam appeared in Chaos's eyes at these words as she floated over next to her sister with a giddy expression on her face that spelled doom for whoever she was unleashed upon. "Oh! Iris does that mean I can kill them all then?" The happy go lucky murder machine asked her twin sister who frowned at the next course of action they were going to take but knew it to be necessary. "Yes Chaos… Daddy is already furious from what I can tell, and he no doubt now knows of what's happening here. If any harm were to come to us or our siblings, I can't imagine what he'd do next. He's not taking any prisoners anymore so neither can we." Iris reasoned while unfolding her combat fans.
She couldn't keep her twin on a leash, so she wasn't going to even try. Iris knew that things were too complex and dynamic to make a more singular focused decision. Her father was responsible for taking down this outpost filled to the brim with Black Sun criminals. He couldn't afford to show them any mercy and now that they've tried to attack his children and use them as leverage means that all bets are off. If she doesn't stop them here and now, then when her father comes back, he may be in such a mood that he'd torture them first before killing them.
It also helped that she could look into their hearts, and she could tell that not a single one of them before her were redeemable. They have blood on their hands that cannot be washed away no matter how hard they tired. They were unrepentant souls in the vile acts they've committed over the course of their existence. So, they would die today… it was as simple as that.
"You think you can kill us child. Don't make me laugh!" Kitagawa roared as he flashed through several hand signs in under a second before unleashing a tidal wave of water from the nearby pools and fountains of water that were found inside the courtyard of the resort. The wave of water took the shape of an indistinguishable canine like beast with artificial glowing yellow eyes of chakra. "Water Style: Water Beast Jutsu!" His pride was wounded, and an ever-silent twinge of fear was creeping up his spine at the uncomfortable feeling the twins inspired within him. He wasn't sure what it was or how to explain it… it could have been the brief but silencing display of subtle but masterful power they used against him or the casual way in which they stated he and his colleagues were going to die but these notions set off this feeling of inadequacy and fear in the shinobi's heart.
Aria was the first to react as she raised her hands while her eyes gleamed of pure determination blazing through them as her medallions attached to her hair glowed with her arcane magical abilities. "Light Screen!" A golden glow surrounded the Witch and her companions just as the water beast slammed its paw directly on top of the group. Crushing magnitudes of gallons of water erupted in an explosion throughout the courtyard that was almost immediately halted once the temperatures in the vicinity started to rapidly drop without warning.
Izō's small body was glowing a light blue as the protective fox unleashed a frightening roar much louder that what a creature of his size should be capable of that flash froze the water construct in place. Taking over Iris clapped her hands together and a spout of fire erupted from her delicate limbs melting the newly formed ice pillar down in a matter of seconds unleashing a billowing cloud of steam and fog due to the rapid change in temperatures. There was no talking between the siblings or their protectors as they each disappeared inside the new makeshift smokes screen within a moment's notice.
Kitagawa's shinobi instincts kicked in immediately as he went through another chain of hand signs that ended with him concentrating on the image in front of him. "Genjutsu: Misty Follower Jutsu!" In seconds multiple indistinguishable black shadow like apparitions appeared within the thick steam cloud that took a vague humanoid shape that was exceedingly difficult to distinguish within the haze surrounding them. Not quite finished yet Kitagawa added on to his countermeasures with a second chain of shorter hand signs that he completed moments later. "Ninja Art: Fog Clone Jutsu!"
Using the sweltering mist surrounding his group Kitagawa spawned in actual illusionary clones that took on his exact appearance into the courtyard to further sew discord and misdirection within his enemies. He wanted a moment to regroup and figure out his next move, so he sunk himself underground using the tried-and-true utility technique native to the Land of Earth shinobi and used by many villages and factions across the continent. Without any fanfare or warning he was gone using the Earth Style: Underground Earth Swimming Jutsu. The technique was a staple in many ninja forces not just those from the Hidden Stone Village. With the technique one could silently sink underneath the surface of rock and pop up elsewhere with a silence that is perfect for assassinations. There are several similar Earth Style techniques that all perform this same basic concept but with slightly distinct functions.
In less than a second Iris was upon the last spot Kitagawa was just standing with a strong glare etched into her face as she was easily able to track where the rogue Chūnin was without issue. With an errant thought the princess like girl slammed her fist into the ground with it surrounded by her Fire Magic. "Phoenix Fire: Heatwave!" With a commanding shout Iris raised the temperature in her immediate vicinity with a controlled burst completely vaporizing the remaining water splashed on the ground as well as the Fog Clones that were attempting to surround her. The hot steam was pushed back around her revealing the location of the two life force demons who were attempting to outflank the entire group to make a break for the resort building again.
It would make perfect sense for these two demons to try and kidnap the children during the commotion of the battle. With their uncanny ability to drain the life force and energy from anyone they touch it would render the already defenseless children unable to even protect themselves. The only problem with this plan was the fact that Iris was now in their faces before they could even blink. Launching herself into the air the spitfire of a girl wrapped her legs around the veiny grotesque neck of the closest demon before spinning around at a breakneck pace sending the much larger figure flying with a picture perfect hurricanrana which was one of her all-time favorite moves to use. Immediately bridging into a handstand Iris executed a upside down leg split while generating billowing winds with her powers.
Spinning in place Iris performed dizzying breakdance like moves while spinning like a top sending out cyclone like winds that ripped the second Reiki Akuma off its feet sending it across the entire courtyard alongside its partner who after taking a rough landing from Iris's earlier move was picked up by the intense winds and flung violently through the air as well. Flipping back to her feet Iris crouched down low to the ground before her calf muscles all tensed and compressed themselves like a coil. In one massive leap the young girl jumped the entire distance of the large courtyard without any effort whatsoever landing gracefully before her prey who were now desperate to retaliate in any sort of meaningful way.
Small orange magic circles formed in front of the two demons' hands as they outstretched both hands with their palms facing towards Iris who frowned before taking out her battle fans and unfolding them. A pale translucent orange ball of Yōki formed from the magic circles before they were fired at the child goddess in disguise. "Jinsei no Dangan (Life Bullet)!" Both demons chanted as the soft ball sized bullets of energy flew just as fast as a Jōnin could throw a kunai towards Iris who batted both energy attacks away from her with her fans coated in her beautiful golden flames which quickly changed colors to a searing pure white.
"Phoenix Fire: Searing Shot!" A flame the size of a candle appeared on Iris's outstretched fingers that shot off far faster than her opponents attacks ever could. Once the two demons saw their initial attack had failed, they proceeded to unleash a rapid-fire barrage of energy bullets at the small seven-year-old girl who was ready to counter this assault without a look of worry on her face. Iris's smaller faster flaming projectiles tore through the closest attacks that made it near her while her fans deflected away the rest leaving the two life force demons panting for breath and in disbelief as their signature attack wasn't something they could use for exceptionally long due to the inherent nature and weakness of their species and the attack itself.
"It's over for you now. The talismans that you use to safely touch other species without repercussion won't protect you from me." Iris declared as she spied the unique paper tags hanging from their draping robes that they use to protect their bodies from the harmful effects of touching other harmful races of beings that they try to absorb the life force energy from. She's faced their race many months ago in the Forest of Death while severely weakened and dampened back then but even so she still managed to win. She vowed to do the same once more now, especially since she's more powerful and has much more autonomy over her powers currently.
"Phoenix Fire: Inferno!" A beautiful and majestic blue flame appeared in the palms of Iris's hands that caused the temperature to rise once more. Using her fans as mediums she swung them around launching a destructive wave of flames at the two demons who had nowhere to run with their backs against a literal wall. Placing up generic barriers using their native energy they were desperately hoping that it would be enough to protect them but unfortunately for them they were unaware of the unique nature of Iris's current attack.
The blue wave of fire washed over both demon's and they only had a second to realize the true fatal danger they were in before it was too late. The barrier they constructed disintegrated before their very eyes without any warning or give and the protective talismans that they placed on their bodies did much the same leaving them unprotected against the powerful flames that wiped them away before they could even scream. With a calming sigh Iris rose both of her arms in a rhythmic circular fashion before gently lowering them straight down with her palms facing the ground in a calming gesture as she caused her flames to extinguish themselves.
Her face no longer had the hardened fierceness of battle on them and were instead replaced by her common, gentle, and soft innocent features as she turned to watch the rest of the fights play out. She calmly began walking back towards the other side of the courtyard while positioning herself near the balcony of their room on ground level so that in the event of an emergency she could immediately intercept anyone trying to make a quick dash to her siblings above her.
Aria was keeping a constant vigilance out for her two mistresses as she focused on her opponent who just so happened to be Kitagawa Mashiro who she sensed disappear into the ground moments ago. She knew that Mistress Iris wasn't interested in facing the rogue shinobi as he would be no challenge for her, so she took it upon herself to kill the man. Gathering her latent psychic energy Aria reacted the second she sensed the shinobi rise from the ground behind her like any true shinobi would. "Reflect!" A sword strike that was aimed to strike her through the heart from her back was deflected by a translucent clear pane of psychic glass that Aria summoned in a split second.
If Aria had no previous experience training and fighting against shinobi and their battle tactics, then she knew even with her inherent psychokinetic powers she could be outmaneuvered and killed but that wasn't the case for someone like her. She's spent the last 4 years living and training with both Naruto and Shoko daily on how to become stronger while also getting her used to the most common threat she'd face in this world which would be an enemy ninja.
"Psybeam!" The retaliation was instant on Aria's part which was a lesson hammered into her by her master. In shinobi fights they are often fast paced, and attack, defense, and retaliatory strikes should flow one after another and they must be instinctual and well thought out. Being stationary or too methodical and slow in counter attacking or prepping an attack is one of the easiest ways to be killed on the battlefield. Every move you make whether it was offensive or defensive in nature should flow together and serve a purpose.
The kaleidoscope of rainbow-like energy slammed into Kitagawa's chest in the form of a beam without warning causing the ninja to gasp in intense pain as his protective flak jacket was burned through by the concentrated attack sending him crashing into a planted tree in the courtyard. Recovering as fast as possible the rogue sent out basic clones as well as fog clones to converge on Aria's position while he dove into one of the many nearby decorative fountains like pools of water.
Frowning at the recognized stalling tactics her opponent was using against her Aria's eyes glowed blue alongside her special metallic medallions tied in her hair as she generated a surge of psychic energy. "Psywave!" A light blue omnidirectional pulsing wave shot out from her body across the courtyard that slammed into the approaching clones destroying them and pushing the mist away in seconds. The pulsating nature of the concentric waves of power caused the air to vibrate and the water in the various pools near her to do the same.
Jumping out of the disturbed water Kitagawa scowled at his enemy as he already had a finished sequence of hand signs ready. "Die! Water Style: Raging Rapids!" Taking the entire water supply of water from the pool he was standing on the angered shinobi manipulated the surging waves into a violent twister that tore across the field towards Aria who dug in and stood her ground instead of attempting to evade the incoming attack. She thought this was the perfect time to test out a recent technique she's perfected with the help of Shoko while Naruto was away on his mission to the Land of Snow. She was hoping to show him her progress and perfection of this technique during the trip but now would have to be the time as Aria gathered up her psychic magic and then defused it across the surface of her entire body.
Seconds before the twisting spout of water slammed into Aria's position her body was covered in a translucent white aura that pulsated in the patterns of growing bubbles. In the blink of an eye Aria was slammed into by the raging waters of Kitagawa's attack and then proceeded to shock all those watching as the entire attack which was just over fifteen feet tall was stonewalled by her barrier. "Mirror Coat!" With this chant of the technique's name the caretaker of the Uzumaki household reflected the attack right back at Kitagawa whose entire body paled at the sight of his own technique bouncing back at him and to his growing horror the waterspout somehow doubled in size and intensity to thirty feet.
Without a moment to lose Kitagawa jumped out of the way at the last second before his own attack was used against him but in doing so, he came face to face with Aria who slammed her fist into his stomach sending the shinobi skidding back into a nearby bench. Recovering with a snarl on his face he drew a kunai in a flash and was on Aria before she could follow up.
Switching tactics Aria brought up her transparent glass like Reflect screens at the last possible second blocking the knife strikes from her opponent that would ordinarily be fatal strikes if they landed. The two entered a brief but dangerous cat and mouse dance of death as the rogue shinobi tried everything in his power to breach Aria's defenses while the witch held him off at every turn by moving the clear defensive pane into the path of his strikes with lightning precision. Upping the pressure Kitagawa began chaining in rapid Body Flicker jumps into his attack sequences to try and circumvent his opponent's defenses but he was met face to face by Aria who wasn't backing down as she matched his speed easily with a simple chant of the word Agility.
Pink distortions rippled off of her body forming pink tinted afterimages as she suddenly increased her reflexes and speeds to not only match Kitagawa's advances but as the seconds wore on, she was steadily surpassing his speed which was something the enraged man only noticed at the last second as the younger teenage witch breached his guard at the last second before placing her hand on his chest. "Psybeam!" With a concentrated blast from point blank range that burned straight through his protective armor Kitagawa was launched off his feet and flung through a concrete slab of a nearby pillar before his limp body splashed down into one of the nearby decorative fountains of water that littered the expansive courtyard of the upscale resort and created pathways with the shapes they took.
Appearing at the edge of the pool Aria stared down at her defeated opponent as his chest had a blackened burned spot from her attack and a dazed look was in his eyes from the force of the blast he took. A weary sigh escaped Aria's mouth at what she was about to do but she understood that she had her obligations and orders from her mistress to end this man's life. Iris declared that these intruders must die and as such Aria knew she would obey every word spoken by either Iris or Chaos no matter how absurd it may be. "My mistress has ordered your death and I will always obey her. If it is your death that she wants, then so shall it be." Aria intoned without a spec of emotion in her voice.
"Psychic." With one word muttered under her breath Aria's eyes glowed with the raw power of her full telekinesis abilities as she pushed Kitagawa's body underneath the water's surface and to the floor below. The effects were immediate as her telekinetic grip was applying crushing force to every square inch of his body preventing his chest from expanding cutting off his ability to breathe which was obviously further restricted by being underwater. The rouge wasn't able to make a sound or twitch a muscle on his body as he was drowned and suffocated to death by Aria telekinetically holding him down beneath the water's surface while simultaneously slowly constricting and crushing his body from all sides.
In under a minute Kitagawa Mashiro was dead as Aria applied enough force and pressure with her power that his insides began to squeeze and burst. With water filling his lungs he died a shallow and excruciating death as his eyes were the only things capable of moving and they held within them a depth of terror and realization of horror that only someone on the brink of death could hold. She had to watch this frantic look reflect itself back at her in the moments she was doing this to him and now that his eyes turned a hazy and unfocused tint caused the kindhearted girl to close her eyes in grief.
This death was something that wouldn't be leaving the witch for months to come as she recognized her actions as following orders from her mistress, but it still did nothing to quell the pain in her heart from having to take another's life. Deep inside Aria took a small measure of comfort in knowing that her actions prevented any harm in coming to Naruto's children which was her primary purpose in life.
Across the courtyard Izō's pray stood no chance against the far superior predator as he made short work of his opponents which just so happened to be the goblins who tried to scamper off to the side to find a way to get to the children upstairs in the hotel. Unfortunately for them they never even made it five feet before Izō was upon them and the first of them was killed by being chopped in half by the arctic fox's metallic like tail that he could activate at will. The second goblin lasted a minute longer before Izō bulldozed his way through the meager and panicked defenses of his pray where he then clamped down his powerful vice like jaws into the neck of the goblin causing the creature to instantly start to internally freeze over.
Picking the impish creature up with his powerful jaws Izō violently shook his head from side to side sinking his jaws and sharp carnivorous teeth further into the goblins neck tearing muscles and ligaments apart. Slamming the now frozen over body down onto the hard concrete the vicious fox watched as the body shattered and broke into two at the neck and shoulder of the goblin from the force of Izō's power. Feeling dissatisfied with the lack of excitement in his victory and kills Izō lazily turned his head to watch Chaos toying with the golem.
"Lock On: Artemis!" A giddy smile was on Chaos's face right now as she bombarded the giant golem with explosive rounds of fireballs that detonated against its rocky surface causing it to stumble backwards from the onslaught. The inanimate monster couldn't communicate or show emotions so instead it simply swung its tree trunk like arms around to smash Chaos into the ground who to no one's surprise stood perfectly still and watched in ambience as the attack simply missed her by inches. Caving in the concrete beneath her feet Chaos giggled as she adjusted her footing while watching the golem pull its arm back.
Everyone knew that her reality manipulating ability Kayros was responsible for Chaos's semi-invulnerability and passive ability to circumvent attacks against her at close range. With a slow and bulky creature like the golem after her it would never have the speed or agility necessary to escape the range of Chaos's most used technique. Blasting it with two more consecutive shots of fireballs Chaos watched as the attacks blasted small minute chunks of cement and rock off of its surface but did little else than cause to creature to seize up in pain from the poisonous nature of the energy she uses.
"It seems like I'm not adding enough punch to my flames Mr. Rock. I wonder how hot I should make my flames in order to melt your body. I bet that would be fun to find out together." Chaos squealed in delight as she drew her fist back and launched it just as the golem did the same causing their fists to collide between them which expunged a rippling shockwave across the courtyard that the others were able to avoid in their fights with barely a thought. The concrete flooring beneath their feet cracked and caved in from the force of their strength while Chaos giggled more at the destruction she was causing.
Gripping her hand into the much larger fist of the golem attacking her Chaos used her extraordinary strength to pick up the giant that weighed well into the 8-ton range and threw him across the courtyard one handed where it landed in one of the nearby pools splashing all of the water out of its confinement.
Levitating off the ground with the assistance of her prized wings Chaos positioned herself above the soulless creature with a malicious grin on her face that spoke of nothing but sadistic glee and pleasure. "Let's soften you up first. Black Magic: Night Shade!" Crackling jolts of pure black electricity sparked off of Chaos's metallic blade like wings that illuminated the nighttime atmosphere with a dark red hue. Burst after burst of lightning bolts rained down on the golem that was soaking wet from the pool it was stuck in causing a haunting scream of agony to come from the stiff cement armored being.
Descending to the ground Chaos landed on the golem who was struggling with trying to pick itself off the ground after enduring a barrage of her painful lightning blasts. It's magical core inside of its body was spasming and trying to rebalance itself after being harmed directly by the sinister nature of what Chaos's Night Shade attack actually does.
With a typical grin in place Chaos walked onto the large statue's chest and reached down to grab the magical core she could see embedded deep into its chest cavity. Sensing the imminent danger new life was breathed into the golem as it began to struggle and squirm on the ground in a panicked attempt to shake its adversary off. "Now, now mister don't be so selfish. I just want to play with that shiny rock in your chest. Don't hog it all to yourself." Chaos pouted with a giggle as she had to put up her arms to block the incoming fists of the golem that was trying to grab her.
Changing tactics, the golem brushed past Chaos's arms and grabbed her around the waist in a vice like grip while she was still distracted with trying to grab at its magical core. Squirming in agitation at being kept from her goal Chaos discharged a second burst of electricity from her wings that surged through the creature below her causing it to howl in unimaginable pain once more but this time it held firm and didn't release its grip on the psychotic child attacking it.
In a surge which could only be interpreted as anger the Golem's chest cavity lit up in power as its core shined a bright copper like orange-yellow light in Chaos's face. A magic circle sprung to life mere feet from Chaos's face as her eyes widened a marginal fraction in recognition to what was happening. With her wings constricted against her body there was nothing she could do as a powerful beam of pale light blasted the child Angeloid in the face at point blank range before shooting off and slamming into the resort behind them.
"Chaos!" Iris screamed out for her twin sister as she watched the girl's body slam into the side of the building by the blast of energy that came out of the golem's chest. Howling to the sky in rage and anger with a hollow sounding screech the golem dragged the beam of energy across the side of the building by aiming its body in its direction where a burning path of destruction was carved into the resort. Acting fast Iris tensed the muscles in her leg for a split second before launching herself into the air like a rocket where she jumped all the way up to the balcony and landed on it to intercept the incoming beam of destruction. Iris placed her hands out in front of her in a serene and graceful stance of concentration.
She had just sat down from finishing her own fight with the life force demons and didn't think she'd have to do much more as knowing her twin sister as well as she did, she could see Chaos finishing off the golem first before quickly taking out the Ogre which was the final monster left to deal with. Clearly this didn't go as planned and so the Primordial Goddess in disguise was prepared to step in to protect both her defenseless adoptive siblings and Chaos if necessary.
In seconds, the beam reached the balcony of their room and Iris was ready as she stopped the powerful beam of energy with her bare hands with a grunt of effort. She could hear her siblings behind her in the room screaming in panic as the entire building was shook from the blast slamming into it. She could sense their fear, panic, and distress as they peaked around the corner of the room to see her in action. Gritting her teeth in anger over the danger her siblings were in Iris physically gripped the beam of energy with her bare hands and with a snarl ripped it in half dispelling the power behind it and neutralizing the rest of the beam in the process.
With a snap Iris retaliated in seconds by launching three powerful fireballs from her fists at the golem that slammed into the monster before it could recover from having its attack defused. It obviously screeched in pain and nearly toppled over from the power behind Iris's fireballs as it dropped to one knee in exhaustion.
Before Iris could act further, she heard her sisters patented giggle sound out into the air from the wall near her. "No fair Iris. Back off this dolly is mine to play with. You've had your turn." A face splitting grin was on her face as Chaos extracted herself from the wall she was blasted into. Her clean clothes were burned and torn in some spots, but her skin was still flawless without a scratch on it.
Frowning for a moment Iris relented as she knew if she tried to take over this fight and deprive her sister her innate need for fun, she would just throw a big temper tantrum later which would be much more difficult to manage as it would most likely lead to her having to spar with Chaos in order to subdue her twin which is much easier said than done.
With an ecstatic giggle Chaos launched herself from the wall faster than a normal human could process and slammed straight into the golem's chest with a straight punch so fast and powerful that sent it flying across the courtyard and into the side of the adjacent facing wall of the large mega resort. Cacking with glee Chaos's scanners detected the same buildup of energy from a few moments prior and prepared herself accordingly. Placing her hands out in front of her similarly like her twin Chaos instead began to charge a small compact sphere of tainted flames in between the space of her two palms that crackled with dark miasma like energy and black sparks of electricity from her nightshade.
Iris and the others could see what was happening out the corner of their eyes as Aria was just finishing her own battle with Kitagawa and knew now was the time to fall back. Jumping back so that she could stand with Iris on the balcony Aria sweated as she could see what was about to happen.
In seconds, the same pale beam of energy surged out of the golems chest as it carved a path of destruction across the courtyard in its attempt to blast Chaos again but this time the little girl was more than ready for this attempt on her life as she launched a massive flamethrower like jet of flames that slammed against the beam of energy in the center of the courtyard lighting up the night sky with a multitude of colors. The ground cracked and buckled beneath the epicenter of the two opposing energies causing Chaos to cackle in glee at being able to cut loose a little bit, but the small rational part of her brain also recognized the dangers her fight was putting the rest of the resort and the residence within in. She had to quickly take out her opponent like her sister and caretaker did or else her father would not be pleased when he returned.
Stretching out her sphere of influence the young girl could feel it envelope the golem across from her which brought a bigger smile to her face as her dark energy surged out undetected by her opponent while she held his attention occupied with their power struggle. "Black Magic: Hex!" Chaos's influence was upon the golem before it could even register what was happening to it as a curse magic spell was engraved onto its body.
A jolt of numbing pain crawled across the golem's body as the curse took effect causing it to seize up diminishing the power of its powerful energy beam coming from its central core. With this difference in power now imbalanced Chaos's massive fireball overtook the golem's own attack causing it to crash into the ground just narrowly coming up short of her by a couple of feet which was another byproduct of her curse as it causes misfortune and horrendous bad luck to the victim.
Chaos's fireball slammed into the golem in a jarring explosion toppling the giant 9-foot-tall stone creature to the ground where it fell into one of the last decorative pools of water that was meant to give an aesthetically pleasing view to those who walk through the courtyard of the expensive resort.
With a sadistic dark smile in place Chaos blinked away without a trace and appeared in front of the golem whose stone and cement body was now charred black and melting in some places due to the heat of Chaos's flames. Flexing her wings once more they all grew in length and size to be almost three times their original size as they glowed a vibrant dark purple hue of power. "Now let's try this again. Dark Magic: Night Slash!" With razor sharp yet brutal precision Chaos's took her over charged blade wings and viciously impaled the golem throughout its body in multiple locations pinning the giant creature to the ground below while the dark energy surrounding her wings burned and paralyzed it in pain which grew by multiple factors when Chaos's sadistic dark smile grew more pronounced.
"Black Magic: Night Shade!" Bolt after bolt of black tinted lightning arced off of the stone monster's body as it was electrocuted within the pool of water like last time but in this case, Chaos poured even more intent behind her attempts to kill her opponent. Reaching down while her victim screeched in agony Chaos bored her hand deep into the golem's chest cavity where she wrapped her hands around its core and with a vicious tug pulled the supernatural heart out of the monster causing it to wail a gothic and spine melting wail that could be heard across the entire plot of land the resort occupied.
Smiling in glee Chaos grabbed the rugged gem like stone core with happiness in her eyes she watched the rest of the giant body crumple to the floor as the visible leylines of Yōki that flowed across the surface of its body that functioned as veins began to dim as the lifeforce was drained from its husk. Squealing in happiness Chaos looked down to the core in her hand with happiness as she giggled. "We're going to have so much fun together. I'll add you to my collection of toys."
This should have been it as far as Chaos's battle was concerned except for the fact that the gem like core in her hand started to radiate power in noticeable waves. Raising her eyebrows in surprise Chaos watched as the gem turned from a pale matte yellow to a dangerous ruby red as more and more Yōki was being drawn in from the atmosphere around them into not just the gem in her hands but the body it belong to. Her scanners were on in seconds and scanning the entire body and the process occurring before her face Iris voiced the conclusion Chaos's scanners had reached at the same time.
"It's trying to self-destruct! We have to stop it!" Iris yelled in concern as she jumped down alongside Aria in panic to assist her sister as all three females could feel the amount of energy being gathered. If it were allowed to go off the explosion would take out over half of the resort building and more importantly than that their siblings would definitely be killed in the blast as their room was on the side of the building they were fighting on.
"Barrier!" Aria cried out as she summoned a translucent light blue barrier that surrounded the body and surrounding area just as Chaos jumped back. Placing her hands on the now constructed barrier Iris surged her power into it causing angelic sigils to spread across its surface giving the light blue barrier a golden hue to it. Frowning a very subtle frown at the danger her siblings were placed in Chaos held out a hand and pulsed her power to curtain over the newly constructed barrier her family members made. "Aegis." Chaos's light blue hexagonal patterned barrier came to life and covered Aria's barrier for a doubled layer of defense against what was about to happen.
Thinking quickly Chaos looked down and trapped the stone gem in her hands inside of a miniature Aegis bubble that was very reminiscent of the move she used against Lilith many months ago during the battle between the Three Legendary Sannin. Pulsing out her power Chaos shocked the stone in her hands with rapid bursts of her nightshade while placing a hex down directly onto the object itself to rapidly drain it of its power. This tactic helped tremendously in containing the overall amount of power the golem was able to absorb, but an explosion still occurred as the body of the golem exploded with ground shaking force that shook the nearby resort and caved in a crater where its body once laid.
No smoke or debris scattered across the courtyard as the entire destructive blast was contained behind Aria's barrier that shattered under the force of the explosion while Iris's enhancements supernaturally migrated themselves to her sister's barrier that stopped the full brunt of the explosion cold.
"That was too close for comfort!" Iris frowned in concern as a fifteen foot in diameter crater that was at least five feet deep stood before them where the golem used to be with no signs of the decorative waterways or pools that used to stand here being present. In fact, most of the courtyard was trashed and destroyed due to the fights the Uzumaki family engaged in. "If we're dealing with this here then what is master dealing with over at the docks?" Aria questioned to herself in concern as having to deal with these insurgents while relatively easy was still concerning as this gave proof that somehow the enemy knew of this location and presence and sent forces out to capture them. More than likely to use as leverage against Naruto and the others. It also gave rise to the concern if there were more of these creatures at the docks.
Chaos was about to weigh in on the conversation with her own opinion but at that exact second all three girls tensed up as their senses alerted them to an immediate danger unfolding near them. Chaos's sensors screamed to life while Iris and Aria also looked up in alarm as they saw the Ogre that none of them attacked yet reach the balcony their room was on.
"NO!" Iris cried out as Chaos's wings flexed out to their full length in microseconds as the twins were moments away from lunging at the threat against their siblings who they could now hear screaming in fright at the intruding monster when Chaos and Iris in particular stopped as their bodies reacted to a rapidly approaching presence that they know all too well.
Three shadows flew overhead and into their rented-out suite faster than the normal eye could track and, in that moment, the twin sisters knew that everything was going to be ok. The Ogre was one track minded in its pursuit of completing its mission. He saw the fates his comrades were suffering unfolding before his eye and knew that he stood no chance against the overwhelmingly powerful supernatural children who were supposed to be defenseless children. The fact that only these four came out to confront them and were so adamant on protecting the ones up above in the hotel suite who were all cowering in fear spoke volumes to the ogre who now knew what he needed to do.
He couldn't win in a fight against any of the combatants below so he wouldn't even try and fight. He would succeed where his other comrades failed and secure at least one hostage. Perhaps even kill one, if at all possible, for all the trouble this group has caused as he knew he wouldn't be able to run away either by himself or with a hostage if this group chose to chase after him, so he was screwed either way.
Reaching the room once more the green skinned ogre wasted no time in grabbing the first child that he could reach despite the resistance the boys Roku and Dai tried to put up. Naho's screams were at the forefront of everyone's minds as the monster swiped her off the floor into his giant arms that were just as big as her entire torso. Terror was in the princess's eyes as she stared into the soulless and uncaring eyes of the monster constricting her.
"Let her go!" Asagi screamed as she jumped to her feet only to narrowly dodge a clubbing blow by the ogre's massive arms with a masterfully timed Substitution Jutsu. The children were progressing nicely with the usage of their chakra being half demons and they especially made a noticeable leap in the last few days as Naruto has taken time out of his day when not playing with them on the beach to train and instruct the children personally one on one. That special attention was all they ever wanted or needed to flourish and make considerable progress.
Asagi's evasive technique was masterfully executed but she like her siblings lacked situational awareness and battle sense as she replaced herself with a nearby pillow which placed her on the couch where she had gotten the pillow from and now subsequently farther away from her siblings. Most importantly of all of her siblings Ai was left wide open who could only stare in abject horror as the other hand of the monster came within inches of grabbing her when out of the corner of her eyes a small red and yellow blur passed her by faster than what a normal human child would ever be able to perceive.
"Lightning Style: Amphibious Voltage!" Gamaspeed's intervention came at the last possible second as he slammed his tiny body into the hand of the 7-foot brutish ogre faster than it could blink paralyzing its hand causing it to clench and spasm involuntarily. His three other partners weren't idle either as Gamakichi and Gamatatsu were quick to jump onto Ai's shoulders urging the 4-year-old child to move. Gamasoap acted just as quickly by backing up her hyperactive partner as she jumped onto the spasming appendage and let loose her attack at point blank range.
"Water Style: Ethanol Bubbles!" The frothy bubbles engulfed the ogre face before it could react releasing poisonous gases directly into the orifices of the now flailing monster who howled in excruciating pain at the chemical irritants burning into the skin of his face. Roaring in pain and literal blind rage the massive brute swung its arm around with frothy spittle and saliva spewing from its mouth only to be abruptly stopped without warning as it crashed into a jarring force.
Fluttering open its irritated eyes the hulking ogre was shocked to see his fist being casually blocked by the hand of none other than Naruto himself. The clone had a harsh withering glare etched into its face as his appearance shocked not only the Ogre but the other occupants of the room as well as his arrival kicked up a gust of wind. His arrival was matched by the timely entrances of both Hinata and Henrietta as well who formed a wall in front of the children who were relieved and happy to see their parents there to rescue them. Naho's eyes in particular were ones of complete shock as she felt a slightly warm tingling sensation on the back of her wrist and quickly flicking her eyes down the princess was silently shocked to see the recently tattooed on tracking seal Naruto planted onto her skin glowing a pale white color.
A flutter of elation and warmth ignited in the young girl's heart which was quickly wiped away by fear as the monster still holding onto her squeezed her tighter gaining a gasp of pain from her as it immediately began to back pedal once it took one look into Naruto's eyes. Despite being a clone which the ogre did not know it could still sense a massive amount of chakra from the boy standing before him and the only thing more potent than the energy he was sensing from his newly arrived adversary was the truly immense amount of killing intent that he was unleashing. Naruto was outputting a pungent amount of malice that was solely directed at the monster in front of him and him alone. Not even Naho who was stuck in his clutches could feel the negative energy being released from her closest friend.
"You have someone that's very important to me… you have one second to let her go." Naruto's tone was chilling to the bone as the bulky monster had no time to react before a quick twitch of Naruto's wrist proceeded an untraceable flash of light in the room to fast for Naho or the other children to perceive. In less time that it took for her to blink her eyes Naho suddenly found herself comfortably in Naruto's arms causing her to briefly blush in appreciation before a gush of blood from a now amputated ogre startled Naho out of her brief reprieve as her captor screamed in blinding pain as a sword made out of ice could now be seen in Naruto's had that the others weren't previously aware of.
There was nothing said before Hinata stepped besides her boyfriend and slammed an unexpected yet devastating aqua palm strike to their enemies' stomach that actually tore the brute off its feet and launched it across the room with a pressurized blast of water. Screeching in pain and unchained rage the ogre braced itself up against the nearest wall to support its injured body with its one good arm while adjusting the bludgeoning club in the palm of his hands ready to retaliate against his enemies only to have both its kneecaps blown out by Henrietta's wrist mounted projectile launcher in a ruthless and merciless show of consolidated force by the members of the extended Uzumaki Clan.
Naruto's shadow clone wasn't wasting a single second as it knew that with the perpetration of this attack his children were no longer safe and with the interference of the Hidden Cloud Team in their mission it was now imperative that he secured his entire family at all costs and put an end to the dangers surrounding them. He had no idea how the enemy would even know where his rented apartment would be or that there would be occupants inside for them to either attack or kidnap.
All of this was extremely concerning for Naruto who was uncertain as to how his children were discovered or who was responsible for discovering this fact at all. He knew for a fact that between his very presence, and that of Hinata, Anko, and Shoko all being in the apartment at the same time there was no feasible way of them being spied upon and while he didn't have the highest of opinions of the Hidden Cloud Team his gut was telling him that they weren't the ones responsible for letting this sensitive information slip.
There was too much at play as far as the clone was concerned and since it didn't have the full power of its creator it was more concerned with getting his family to safety and away from the hotel. Between what was happening here and back at the docks it would be in everyone's best interest to wrap this mission up as fast possible. First things first would be to rid themselves of the enemy before them. With that thought in mind Naruto passed Naho off to Henrietta just as the massive ogre swung its one good arm around with its club to smash the floor beneath them. With its strength it would cave in the entire floor into the unit below them hurting his children from the fall and crushing anyone potentially in the rooms below.
Moving with purpose dead set on protecting his family Naruto with Hinata always by his side as a comfort closed the distance between them and their adversary before it could complete its swing. With bone shattering force the clone launched a devastating punch covered in its flickering chakra straight into the club that shattered the bludgeoning weapon in one shot that rattled the nerves in the ogre's arm. "Accelerated Punch!" The kinetic energy from his signature attack disoriented the monster long enough for him to slip in its guard and impale the seven-foot-tall creature in its chest that froze over its entire torso in frost. Stumbling out of the broken sliding glass doors onto the small terrace outdoors Naruto and Hinata made their final move just as the creature tumbled over the railing behind it.
Naruto's palm glowed with the swirling maelstrom force of the Legendary technique of his father while Hinata's Byakugan tinted themselves a golden hue with her palms radiating a blinding light. "Rasengan!" Using an impromptu one handed Rasengan which he's been practicing for months on how to master Naruto's clone slammed the technique into the chest of the ogre directly on the hilt of his ice sword pushing it all the way through the monster's chest while Hinata came up beside him and physically palming the Rasengan in her hand like she did months ago during the mission with Shion causing the swirling mass of chakra to turn a radiant shade of gold. "Overdrive!" Hinata yelled out combining her holy aura with her boyfriend's potent mixed chakra causing a chain reaction that twisted the Rasengan into a violently twisting vortex of energy that shredded the entire giant in front of them and blasting a twister of energy out across the courtyard that tore up what little was left of the ravaged expensive landscaping of the rich hotel.
In one combo move the creature was eviscerated out of existence with not a trace left. The power behind their new combo wasn't lost on the couple who took one look at each other and instantly understood the new potential and raw power at their disposal. For the first time tonight a smile that quickly turned into a cocky smirk crossed his face even if it was just from a clone. Planting a small victory kiss on Hinata's lips the clone then turned away missing the brilliant blush that crossed his girlfriend's face as her mind instantly went to thoughts she'd rather not think of at the moment as she's never kissed one of her boyfriend's clones before so now that this has occurred a mental door was now opened the naughty potential was limitless.
It was at this point that Iris, Chaos, Aria, and Izō all jumped up to the top of the balcony to join Naruto. It didn't take long for Iris and Chaos to find themselves in Naruto's arms much to his joy and relief at everyone being ok. While this was happening the other children, all took this opportunity to run into their father with a load of stress now taken off their shoulders now that the threat has passed. With an army of children surrounding him Naruto quickly flickered his eyes over to Hinata and whistled a peculiar toon to his girlfriend in the most casual manner possible that briefly caused her body to tense up in the most subtle of ways. As a Hyūga and heiress at that not to mention being a recent Chūnin and prodigy Hinata hid her body's reaction well by quickly flashing on her Byakugan without a word while preoccupying herself with holding little Ai and Shion in her arms.
It was a coded message that the young couple created many years ago as kids for Hinata to activate her Byakugan to scan their surrounding area for dangers. First it had originally started off as a way for them to detect if any civilian or prying eyes would catch them spending time together as Naruto didn't want others to catch him befriending the Hyūga's heiress. Their scorn and mistreatment of him, not to mention the occasional physical abuse was not something he wanted Hinata to be witnessed to. Eventually during their academy days, they used this as a way for Naruto to get away with many of his elaborate pranks that he would rope her into pulling while having a watchmen and wingman accomplice in the form of his best friend looking over his shoulder for him. Now during their career as Shinobi, it was the perfect code to use when they suspected they were being tracked or spied upon.
Scanning the immediate area around the hotel Hinata detected nothing and no signs of extra monsters waiting to pounce on them now that their guard was seemingly down. However, she wasn't satisfied with this result especially since Naruto signaled for her to do this in the first place. Boosting the spherical range and fidelity of her vision Hinata cranked it up to her maximum field of vision and could see nearly the entirety of the entire town of Turquoise Cove. The settlement was about 7/10ths the full size of the Hidden Leaf Village so she could see quite a bit of the land around her. Seeing all the way back down to the docks which weren't too far away and even out into the open ocean was no problem for the powerful heiress. She could clearly see the battle raging on and how it was quickly escalating into something that nearly made her gasp in both shock and horror.
What was happening at the docks would need to be addressed immediately and she knew she'd want to be back by Naruto's side as soon as possible but before she could discontinue the use of her bloodline and inform her boyfriend's clone about this latest turn of events something peculiar caught her eyes in the complete opposite direction. It was so small and subtle that she was sure any other Hyūga besides the seniors like her father or potentially her cousin Neji surely would have missed it.
She wasn't sure how she should describe to herself what she was looking at as the building in question which was ten blocks away and had a similar height to the expensive hotel that they were staying in looked just as ordinary as any of the others around it but on the top floor in one of the windows facing their direction the glass wasn't giving off a reflection that she could detect in the grayscale coloration her worldview takes on whenever a Hyūga uses their Byakugan. The window in question looked fake almost like a mirage or something artificial to her eyes as nothing in the immediate surroundings of that specific window was giving off ambient residual chakra like the rest of the world does, even in urban man-made areas such as settlements.
In the rest of the building, she could detect the ambient wafts of chakra given off by both the residents inside the structure and the natural vegetation found in the gardens and green areas in the surrounding area. Just that one particular window was showing no signs of life as if it were an artificial area that wasn't natural to life around it. Very few things in the world could block the vision of the Byakugan and high enough levels of Fūinjutsu, Barrier Ninjutsu, and the rarest of specific area of effect Genjutsu could ever obstruct, distort, or outright block her family's eyes. All three of these possibilities consequently enough could only be accomplished by immensely powerful and advanced shinobi with specialized skills such as the ANBU or powerful Missing Nin who have stayed off the grid for decades after learning a thing or two about being on the run.
A chill went down Hinata's spine to know that they were being watched from what she could guess was the entire time they were in the port town, and she knew instinctively that it wasn't the Hidden Cloud Shinobi who were behind this. She scanned the whole city since the very moment they made their presence known. She had kept tabs on them all the way up until tonight with this big battle. It then dawned on her at that very moment that because she was so occupied with tracking their adversaries from the Hidden Cloud that she would have subconsciously created her own bias and tunnel vision in her mind when scanning the city multiple times per day over the last few days. With Yugito's Tailed Beast Chakra drawing most of her attention away since it was so similar to her boyfriend's Hinata never would have ever detected such a small anomaly at all. Not even her father would have if he were in her shoes and just as concerned with tracking the Cloud ninja.
This thought scared the heiress more than she'd like to admit but taking as calm of a breath as she could she turned to Chaos with the most casual look on her face and charmed her adoptive daughter figure in the best way she knew how. She had to be completely sure of her findings. "Chaos can you do me a quick favor and play eye spy with me in that direction behind you. Specifically, I want you to give me a number if you can count the number of people." Hinata cooed in the sweetest voice she could make which wasn't hard considering her personality, but it was enough to goad the unhinged little girl into acting as she activated her scanners in her eyes with Naruto's shadow clone sending Hinata a worried look while she whistle back a reply code that confirmed to him that there was an actual need to be on guard.
Two heat signatures showed up behind the window Hinata couldn't see behind with Chaos holding up two fingers with a manic grin on her face as she somehow knew exactly what Hinata wanted her to really do which didn't surprise the talented rookie Chūnin in the slightest as this was exactly what Hinata was relying on from the beginning. She knew that Iris and Chaos probably knew more than what they were letting on to so instead of trying to ask them and pry answers that they many never get she'd just play along and have them act in her interest. This level of ingenuity and forward thinking was one of the reasons why Hinata was promoted to the rank of Chūnin despite being 12 years old at the time. This intelligence was what a shinobi of her rank would need in this dangerous world.
Now that she was on high alert and aware for what she should be looking for a new detail that her Byakugan previously missed became noticeable to her and with a gasp it was much closer than she was comfortable with, much to close in fact. Spinning on the heel of her foot without so much as any warning Hinata's enhanced Byakugan roared to life as her eyes turned from their lilac color to a brilliant golden hue as she blurred through a sequence of hand signs faster than most her age or rank would ever be able to accomplish as she launched her attack at the air conditioning vent on the ceiling in the corner of the room. "Water Style: Water Senbon Jutsu!"
A thin chakra infused water droplet stretched out to look like a needle flew from Hinata's dominant pointer finger with pinpoint accuracy aided by her Byakugan making this a deadly attack for anyone to dodge. The needle was thin enough that it easily slid through the thin slits in the vent grate and struck the target hiding in the air ducks of their apartment. A squelch and splash of liquid followed and by this point Naruto was rushing to push the children behind him in the face of this threat that he couldn't even detect that clearly his beloved girlfriend was more than capable of seeing.
Black liquid dripped out of the vent which from their distance on the other side of the room looked bizarre and scary to all those present. "What is that?" Naruto couldn't be sure what it was they were looking at as it wasn't blood to his knowledge but before he could run through a mental list of substances in his mind that he could use to compare to what he was currently looking at a terrified gasp from Hinata grabbed his attention as her face twisted into a visage of panicked horror that only someone who had something precious to protect or in this case a family full of children to protect could every possibly have.
"MOVE!"
That one word was all Naruto or any shinobi worth their headband would ever need to hear as his body started moving the second the sound escaped Hinata's mouth. It had to be an explosive… a paper bomb or tag to be exact which was the simple yet near silent killer of thousands of shinobis over the years and decades. Picking up as many of his children as he could with Hinata, Henrietta, and Aria all doing the same and making sure Naho was stuck to him like glue they all leap back off the balcony with Chaos putting up an Aegis Barrier at the last possible second just as his and Hinata's combined instincts and assumptions proved themselves right.
*BOOM!*
A massive explosion tore the entire room apart as it wasn't just one paper tag that was stuck inside the air vent but a stack of five in total taking the entire room with it and causing the unit above and below them to both cave in on themselves in an avalanche of destruction, dust, and debris.
"That size of that explosion! How many Hinata?" The clone quickly assessed as it began scanning the surroundings for any more surprises. "It was a stack of at least five explosive tags. It was a rigged trap." This answer didn't fill the clone's heart with any confidence or relief to know that his children had a literal bomb hanging over their heads undetected this whole time. It only begged the serious question on who is responsible for this attack on them as he was fully convinced at this point that the Hidden Cloud had nothing to do with this as between the four members of Team 3 present in the town not a single one of them had the stealth skills necessary to plant bombs in the very room that his family was staying in, the very room that Shoko the Legendary Titan was living in. That was something that team would never try or be able to accomplish.
They were dealing with an unknown third party that they weren't aware of or looking out for so they wouldn't be able to counter them or recognize their signatures or movements. This complicated things immensely and filled Naruto's heart with even more anxiety for the safety of his children and Naho. "Were there any people caught in that Hinata?" The clone inquired and one subtle frown marring his girlfriend's face was all the answer that was needed to know that yes… people just died in that explosion… innocent people.
Scanning the area again and focusing back on the same building that captured her attention a moment before Hinata let out an audible startled gasp of shock as the anomaly surrounding that window was now gone as if it didn't even exist at all. The very last thing she could see were two extraordinarily fast-moving targets that were clearly shinobi based upon their speed and developed chakra networks leaving the gates of the city and escaping her maximum visual range so fast that she only saw a flicker from them for less than two seconds. They were too fast for her to make out any kind of details whatsoever as to their identities or any distinguishable markings. They were gone without a trace.
"We need to go now Naruto! It isn't safe here anymore and the conflict is escalating back at the docks. Things have changed since we've left, and I think I may be needed back there." The urgency in his girlfriend's voice wasn't lost on the clone in the slightest given how everything is basically going to shit so readily so he offered up no complaints to this suggestion, even if his heart wanted to stay and help any surviving civilians caught up in the crossfire of this attack. Sadly, he knew it would be for the best if they left since he himself couldn't spare any extra chakra to make more clones off of his template if he wanted to conserve enough energy to further protect his children. The only thing left would be to let the local civilian rescue teams come in and do their jobs.
"A third unknown faction was behind this and now they've fled out of my maximum sight range… we need to stick together and get away from the area as fast as possible. I'll explain everything else on the way back. The real you is going to need my help!" Hinata pushed as she took off with some of the children tucked to her body with Naruto doing the same with the entire group racing back to the industrial area of town when a massive roar and ground shaking shockwave shook the area. They could see the battle from where they were halfway across town… and it didn't look good.
Turquoise Cove: Salt Stone Harbor
To say that things escalated quickly after Anko chased Ota out the rear exit of the warehouse would be a severe understatement. He was missing a recently lopped off hand and a permanently scarred face thanks to Naruto's vicious assault on the criminal… but as it turns out suffering from these grievous injuries also gave him access to a readily supply of blood at his disposal. Blood was a powerful tool in the hands of a shinobi and that fact was no less true than now in this situation where desperation and a need to flee this city drove the rogue ninja to fall back on desperate measures that under any other circumstances, he would never in his right mind rely upon.
The familiar sight of a summoning magic circle painted into the deck of the main ship docked at the port belonging to the Black Sun wasn't lost to Anko. She was quite familiar with these arcane concepts both from her early childhood studying under Orochimaru and even more recently becoming a part of Naruto's surrogate family and spending time around the Shī-ō of the Uzumaki Clan. The Special Jōnin found herself chasing the limp and in excruciating pain Ota onto his ship after he immediately body flickered away the moment that he got outside the back entrance to the warehouse. He wasn't keen on looking back at the things he was trying to run away from so he had no problem leaving his comrades to die while his enemies duked it out with their own adversaries. He would miss his two subordinates as they were his only two friends who supported him enough to desert their own village back in the day but at the moment the only thoughts on the debilitated ninja's mind right now was escaping with his life intact and bringing news of the crucial information that he had with him back to the leadership of the Black Sun.
To that end the extremes that Ota wouldn't have ever wanted to go to were now revealed to Anko and the rest of the world in the form of a massive draconic serpentine that quickly branched itself off into eight separate heads that towered over the harbor with each serpent being over three hundred feet in length. Thin serpent bodies casted elongated shadows across the bay as Anko stared up at the massive beast that towered over everything in its vicinity. Its scales were a deep navy blue and aquatic like but due to the darkness of night Anko couldn't be quite sure. Around their chins, snouts, and the back of their crowns all the way down the back of their neck it had thick bushy mane of beige colored fur that accentuated the features of this special and rare creature.
All eight of these elongated serpentine dragons all converged into a single point in the form of a large crystalline core structure that began to sink into the water in the hole punched through the deck of the ship Anko now had to evacuate for her own safety. She could see quite a few people drowning and or dead from the abruptness of this creatures summoning destroying the foundation and stability of the ship they had just been standing on moments prior but none of that mattered to Anko at the moment as she could see her target Ota riding on the crown of one of the dragon heads with his bleeding stump and damaged face glaring back at her with vicious and uncontrollable rage boiling in his very eyes.
"There's nowhere for you to run to Ota… face your defeat like a man instead of playing with your little snake one last time!" Anko screamed up to the injured man in a taunting tone while slipping in a little innuendo to the back half of her statement but in reality, she was far from confident or optimistic like her persona was giving off right now. She didn't have the firepower necessary to combat such a large threat that was the same size as the great summons of the Legendary Sannin. Despite being a wielder of the Snake Summoning Contract like her old master Orochimaru, she wasn't capable of summoning the strongest amongst their clan as those snakes are known for being extremely fussy and temperamental with their summoners and she herself didn't have the chakra or stamina needed to uphold the summoning technique and the inherent timer that comes with it.
Luckily, she wouldn't be waiting long as Naruto and the others rushed out of the warehouse to see what the commotion was only to stop dead in their tracks at the size of the foe they were to face. All it took was a shared look between Anko and Naruto for him to understand what had to have happened.
He was no stranger to summoning... being a contract holder himself, so he understood that this was a potential possibility. He just never imagined he'd see such a large monster… but he was far from intimidated. He's fought and defeated creatures far larger than his current foe… far larger indeed.
"What on earth is that?" Darui gawked a bit with a brief loss of his composure at seeing such a creature but being from the Hidden Cloud Village that has its own fair share of large animals and creatures gave the veteran the experience he needed to quickly recompose himself in the face of this new adversary. As someone who has fought against Tailed Beasts before whenever his village's residential weapons would go out of control it gave Darui just enough thick skin to keep his wits about him.
Yugito on the other hand was quite shocked at what awaited them and Matatabi wasn't quite keen on having her kitten sticking around to fight such a disaster but their choice in the matter would be invalid once Ota ordered the monster to attack them while his feverish and maimed form retreated down the back of one of the branching out necks of the dragon.
"This must be a member of the Yamata no Orochi species that you read to me about as a child Shoko. I've since read up on them in my own time, but I wasn't expecting to see one in real life." Naruto growled out as he glared up at the beast in front of him. A million thoughts ran through his mind at this moment, but he already had an interconnected plan forming in his mind and an end goal he wanted to achieve. He would solve this incident far faster and easier than when facing off against Avalugg in the Land of Snow. He wouldn't hesitate or waste a single moment of time in this incident. An entire town was mere yards away from them that was densely populated with innocent people. He couldn't afford to let this beast roam and do as it please as it would wipe the town away with ease unlike Avalugg who resided peacefully deep within an inhospitable harsh remote valley over a dozen miles away from any civilization.
"You've got a plan Naruto?" Shoko turned to her surrogate son as this was still his mission to lead and she would always defer to him and allow him to make decisions for himself so that he can grow more into himself. She was his senior by a long shot and superior in both professions that they share but when out in the field away from the bureaucracy and formalities Shoko would usually take a laxer approach to leadership in missions as she always wants to assess her son's mettle and ability to lead. She knows he's capable of leading and being a compass for others to follow and she'll gladly nurture that quality in him whenever possible. She would only ever take charge if she felt the life of her son to be in grave danger or if he and by association they were in over their heads… but to Shoko, this wasn't one of those times.
"Always Shoko… Anko we'll cover you. I need you and Hinata to intercept Ota and take him out. If you seal away his chakra then it should help stop the timer aspect of this summoning if the magic circle has this mechanic apart of its formula. It should, given the fact that his chakra had to be partially powering this situation." Naruto ordered as his surrogate older sister nodded in understanding but a confused look flittered across her face as she turned to her favorite blond-haired person in the world. "Naruto… Hinata's not here right now you know that right?"
A ghost of a smile formed on Naruto's lips at his sister's statement as he gave her a brief glance just as two of the dragon heads broke off from the pack and lunged for the party of five on the docks of this battle rattled seaport. "She's on her way back… I can feel it."
That was the only response given by the blond Chūnin before his instincts took over along with Shoko's and Darui's as all three shinobi flashed through the exact same sequence of hand signs at the exact same time all ending on the final sign in unison just as the dragon heads approached.
"Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu!"
Three simultaneous forceful jets of water spewed forth from the three elite ninja that formed a massive wall of water nearly five stories tall that stopped the two aggressive dragon heads in their tracks cold when they slammed into the hastily made construct with no time to react. A screech of pain resonated from two of the heads as the impact was comparable to slamming into a solid wall of steel with the amount of high-quality potent chakra that was kneaded into the water by the casters.
All three casters had their hands in the same finishing hand sign for the Water Wall technique, but Darui took it as step further as with his off dominant hand he chained in an additional four signs with the ease and grace of a master that instantly changed the dynamic of the technique with which they were working with. "Lightning Style: Emotional Wave Jutsu!" A sporadic shockwave of pale blue lightning raced up the spout of water Darui was spraying from his mouth and connected with the larger wave of water that was building up in front of him with his temporary allies and surged straight into the faces of the two dragon heads that broke off from the pack.
The pain was excruciatingly made apparent by the painful screeches of their targets that were now spasming and convulsing in unison. However, the icing on the cake figuratively and now very much literally came from none other than Naruto himself whose breath was coming in colder now to the point it was visible as his energy signature began to change right before everyone's senses. Rich and vigorous surges of Yōki rippled through Naruto's body as he embraced a form he didn't use nearly as often as he would like due to the strain it places on his body but once again for just a short while he was willing and happy to do so once more as it always made him feel closer to his beloved other half.
"Winter Fairy King Mode." Naruto's declaration came as a whisper on the wind as he lazily flicked his wrist and the entire wall of water that he and his merry band of allies were creating flash froze itself into a massive glacier faster than most could blink. The release of his power and transformation was so abrupt and untimed that the two dragon heads had no time to even consider moving as they were both caught neck deep into the frozen construct completely immobilizing and incapacitating two out of the eight individual heads in less than a minute.
'Impossible! Is this Yōki! Coming from a Jinchūriki of all people!' Darui's face was shell shocked to say the least as he was the first to look over to his temporary ally and to see him practically turned into a full demon was the shock of the century for the experienced Elite Jōnin. 'He's transformed into a demon! How is this even possible and it looks like he's in complete control over himself.' Darui had no words for what he was witnessing but he wouldn't get a chance to put his feelings into words as the other dragon heads began to become enraged at the injuries and incapacitation of two of their own. Red orbs of fire began to generate themselves inside the mouths of the remaining heads who were all aiming their attacks at their adversaries.
A brief look was shared between mother and son as they synchronized up their instincts and experience with one another. They were no stranger to collaborating with one another so to them this was going to be exhilarating. The fire balls were launched like cannon balls as the impromptu squad of opposing shinobi moved as one. Flashing through a new sequence of hand seals Naruto ended on the final sign just as a twister of fast-moving wind began to circulate into a barrier around the group who were preparing their own techniques. Darui and his student Yugito Nii were quite surprised to see such a technique coming from the blond but clamped down on their growing curiosity towards their ally to focus on the task at hand.
"Wind Style: Hurricane Vortex Wall Jutsu!" Naruto's brand-new technique was in full effect as a massive dome of razor-sharp wind spun up around his group protecting them from the onslaught of fire balls that slammed into the pier with thunderous force destroying much of the concrete and foundation beneath their feet and igniting several nearby objects and building on fire. Enhanced by his Yōki for being in his demon mode the barrier absorbed much of the flames coming at them before dispersing them to the wind leaving the group without a scratch.
It was a pointless question to ask but Naruto still felt it necessary to ask as he saw the dragons gearing up for another volley of fire balls. Turning to the Hidden Cloud Shinobi Naruto addressed them with a stern and unapproachable glare on his face. "Your mission is scrapped, and you have no obligation to stick around anymore. So do you intend to fight with us or leave?" It was blank and straight the point but the two in question wasted little time in fumbling for a response. Regardless of whether they tried to leave or not the dragon would want everything in the vicinity destroyed. The entire town was in grave danger and despite his lazy laid-back nature Darui had an intense sense of justice that was shared with his prized student of the team. Yugito could never turn her back on this town knowingly with the imminent danger it was in. It would be cruelty of the highest order and something she could never allow herself to do.
"We'll fight with you." It was a simple response back from Yugito who spoke up for both herself and her sensei and it was the only thing Naruto wished to hear in that moment as the second volley came flying in at them by the remaining dragon heads. With a shake of his head everyone got their heads back in the game just in time to retaliate in kind.
Blurring through a sequence of hand signs Naruto's never seen done before both student and teacher launched their own counter strikes alongside Shoko who had her prized and beautiful sword out on full display. "Fire Style: Mouse Hair Ball Jutsu!" Yugito spat out a massive sapphire colored orb of flames from her mouth that all quickly split into dozens of small mouse shaped miniature fireballs that scattered into the sky to intercept the incoming fireballs. Alongside her Darui launched his own attack that generated a massive amount of chakra from the Jōnin which was felt by both Shoko and Naruto in an instant.
"Gale Style: Laser Circus Jutsu!" A halo of pure pale blue light surrounded the lazy Jōnin's clasped together hands and in a moment's notice hundreds of small lasers like beams of light shot into the sky slamming into the incoming fire balls with an ear-piercing explosion. Shoko wasn't idle either as she drew her sword back in a power stance and swung it forwards several times faster than the speed of sound generating an enormous and concentrated shockwave that disintegrated the fireballs coming her way. "Kenjutsu: Hazard Slice!"
One minute the incoming fireballs were on track to destroying the entire harbor and everyone on it and the next they were shredded out of existence by the superior firepower of the powerful shinobi defending the city with their lives. Explosions ripped the peacefulness of the night sky apart as the Sea Dragon's attacks were intercepted long before they could reach their intended targets who were experienced enough to know now was the time to press their attack. Out of the dense cloud of smoke hazing the air with is toxins came two speeding shinobi in the form of Naruto and Yugito who were both running on all fours at speeds far surpassing anything an ordinary ninja would be capable of. "Attack the heads after I've frozen them in place!" Naruto yelled over to his unexpected ally as he pulled ahead of her not waiting to hear if she had a reply to him or not.
Building up a sizable amount of Yōki rich chakra in his system Naruto skated his hand through the water before sweeping it up at the eight branched sea dragon with a roar of exertion. "Yōjutsu: Shattering Glacial Spears!" Thick glacial sheets of sharpened ice rose into the air smashing into the branching necks of the Orochi Sea Serpent. The jagged sharped spires or ice dug into the reinforced armored scales of the aquatic serpent causing the many different heads to cry out in pain from the Yōki infused frozen water entrapping them in place. Yugito wasn't far behind in her attempts as the lively young girl raced up the newly created pillars of ice while channeling the tainted chakra of her resident Tailed Beast.
Twin tails of burning sapphire flames sprouted from her tail bone swishing in the air with an erratic mind of their own. Extending her claws with her chakra surging into them Yugito slashed into the forehead of the dragon closest to her. "Flaming Cat Claw: Sapphire Ember!" The flames from the young kunoichi were enough to pierce the thick skin and scales of the dragon's head leading to a geyser of blood to spew forth. Landing on the back of the neck of the dragon head she just attacked Yugito watched as the sea serpent's head spasmed in uncontrollable pain from having its forehead brutally slashed opened. Flashing through her familiar hand signs once more Yugito turned her head to the other nearby branching serpent heads before unleashing another sapphire-colored fireball. "Fire Style: Mouse Hair Ball Jutsu!"
The blue mouse shaped fireballs slammed into the three closest heads near to her inflicting moderate damage to their tough scales, but it was more than enough to grab their attention as they all generated massive flaming orbs in their mouth in retaliation. Disappearing in a sapphire-colored Fire Body Flicker Yugito dodged the triple shot the three serpents launched at her which inadvertently ended up hitting the already damaged head she was on causing it even more grief and agony as it flailed about without end in sight.
Naruto wasn't idle either as he slammed into the nearest serpent head with a resounding crashing fist that exploded into a cold wave that froze over the entire head in one shot. "Ice Style: Icicle Impact Jutsu!" Naruto knew that he did not want a prolonged fight with the Orochi Sea Serpent so he was prepared to take his more finalized preparations to defeating the beast as he saw Shoko and Darui moving in to assist his endeavors while from his elevated position he could see Hinata arriving back at the docks with his clone and children in hand. She quickly broke off from the group while the clone created a barrier around the group with the aid of Aria to defend the large group of children who were standing on top of the roof of the warehouse gaining themselves an unobstructed view of the carnage unfolding before them.
The last thing he saw was Hinata breaking off to join Anko who was forcing Ota into a proverbial corner with her snakes before his attention was suddenly brought back to his own situation as he saw three of the dragon heads converge on Yugito who couldn't move out of the way this time around. The middle head slammed into the young female Jinchūriki with its maw wide open swallowing the feline girl in one gulp. A brief and genuine spark of fear and concern rumbled in Naruto's heart for the fate of his unexpected new ally before he felt a familiar spark of tainted near demonic chakra.
A pillar of blood red chakra erupted from the dragon's mouth causing it to violently spasm and cough out a massive sphere of deep blood red chakra that splashed into the water below. A devilish creature emerged from the sphere with a surge of chakra that Naruto's never felt before. He instantly recognized it as belonging to Yugito and her Tailed Beast but he himself has never seen chakra take on such a sinister characteristic before. Her chakra skyrocketed beyond anything she was using before and well beyond what he's ever felt from another Jinchūriki that wasn't him… and the only time he could think of when he's used an uncontrollable amount of the Nine Tails' chakra was when he was experimenting with Magic Summoning Circles and accidentally created Izō back before the Chūnin Exam Finals. He was barely conscious when he did it, but he went up to three tails worth of chakra and even then, his Chakra Cloak didn't look like what he was seeing now.
Unknown to Naruto, even though for the briefest of moments he entered a 3 Tailed Version 1 Cloak many months ago; what he was witnessing now was an entirely different level of power before complete Tailed Beast Mode Transformation. He was looking at a Version 2 Cloak of a Jinchūriki. The amount of chakra coming off of Yugito was intense, far more than what he experienced at the hands of Gaara when he transformed, and it was even more than what he was currently outputting with his Winter Fairy King Mode.
His demonic transformation was solely dependent on his maximum chakra output, and he could output an amount of chakra that was comparable to his One Tailed Version 1 Cloak at maximum capacity. That was his current human limit and as such that was the limit of his chakra's capacity to transmute itself into Yōki to power his Winter Fairy King Mode. As he gained access to larger amounts of chakra by growing older and expanding his chakra circulatory system and his overall capacity then his corresponding demonic transformations would grow stronger in proportion as well.
Yugito had no visible skin as far as Naruto could see and her eye sockets where her eyes are supposed to be, were completely hollowed out and glowing a ghoulish white in saturation. Her hands and feet were replaced by razor sharp claws. Coming out of her tail bone were two swaying tails made out of the same blood red chakra that was twice the length of her body. A loud wailing cry of a roar escaped Yugito's maw that shook the entire harbor and sent a massive shockwave out into the ocean kicking up twenty-foot waves of water that knocked into not only the Yamata no Orochi but the harbor and the buildings themselves shattering windows and sending water surging into broken down walls and windows of the closest buildings. The few boats that were docked were rocked violently from side to side scraping against each other's hulls creating more damage.
'So, she's resorted to her Version 2 Cloak huh… I better help end this quickly before anymore collateral damage occurs. I also don't want her giving into the battle lust of that volatile state.' Darui mused to himself in concern as he drew his large broadside sword from his back while racing up the spine of one of the two disabled serpent heads that they froze at the beginning of its attack. "Lightning Style Secret Technique: Black Panther!" Darui roared as his sword was coated in a menagerie of pitch-black electrical pulses that turned his blade into one of the sharpest swords in the world with just one move.
Shoko herself was the last to move as she wanted to stick closer to the harbor in case any stray attacks made their way back to the buildings behind them especially with Naruto's clone arriving with the rest of their family, but it didn't stop the Titan from analyzing and storing all of this new information away in the back of her mind. This was intel that her sensei Tsunade would very much like to know as the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.
'So, not only is that little girl capable of entering a Version 2 State but her sensei is wielding the coveted Secret Black Lightning Ninjutsu of the Hidden Cloud. The Black Lightning Ninjutsu is a Secret Technique passed down from one Raikage to the next and was created by the First Raikage decades ago. So, it would seem that the Third Raikage not only passed on this rite of passage technique to his son but to his own apprentice and son's best friend as well. It looks like Darui is being groomed to one day become the next Raikage. Interesting.'
Information was key in the shinobi world and was often times more powerful than any single Jutsu could be when handled properly by a ninja with the ability to see the bigger picture. It wasn't clear to Hidden Leaf Intelligence for the past decade how much control the current young Jinchūriki of the Two Tails has over her power. This demonstration confirms it for the Titan that this girl was vastly far ahead of her own surrogate son in her Jinchūriki development. To enter a Version 2 State on command is a sign that a Jinchūriki is close to mastering their complete Tailed Beast Mode Transformation as well as mastery over the resident Tailed Beast. To achieve this accolade, you must not give into the incredible bloodlust and uncontrollable rage that consumes the mind of the human host.
As things stood now Shoko wasn't so sure that Naruto could face Yugito head on pound for pound power wise as he was every inexperienced with using his own Tailed Beast's chakra. He has mastered the Initial Release State with extraordinarily little complications but that was more due to the fact that he and Kurama weren't completely at each other's throats like early on in their relationship. Naruto could barely use his one tailed form in his Version 1 Cloak let alone more tails than that and he would need to master all nine of those tails before moving on to the Version 2 State. Part of the problem was also due to his unique physiology and the many different forms of energy coursing through his chakra network. He's placed more time and effort into maintaining homeostasis of his wayward divergent energy types than focusing on his Tailed Beast. While she was hesitant to say that Naruto could match Yugito pound for pound as she was now, Shoko also knew that her son had other alternatives and methods at his disposal to combat full powered Jinchūriki. His defeat of Gaara was proof enough of that fact.
Darui's reveal of being in possession of the secret knowledge to the Hidden Cloud's most prized Lightning Style Ninjutsu also proved to Shoko that the famous and prestigious Elite Jōnin was a strong potential candidate for the role of the next Raikage if Ā ever chose to step down within the next decade or so. Knowing the Fourth Raikage as well as she did Shoko also knew that while he was keen on holding onto his positions for the foreseeable decades to come due to his immense power and stubbornness if he ever decided to eventually relinquish his title, he would only ever give it to Darui. Ā is a very abrasive and distrusting man by nature. He keeps his friends close and his enemies closer and he had a very noticeably small friend group that he implicitly trusted with absolute confidence, and he could count those individuals on his fingers and still find that he has a few fingers left over.
This was unbelievably valuable information for the Hidden Leaf's Hokage and Intelligence Bureau to know. It would allow them leverage and intel for them to work with in the future when dealing with their more militaristic rivals to their northeast. Watching the events unfold Shoko saw Darui completely bifurcate the head of the dragon head he was standing on as well as the one next to it in a flash of black lightning that briefly took the shape of a panther as the two heads that were both frozen over by Naruto's initiating assault crumpled to the ground.
Yugito on the other hand disappeared with a sonic boom so loud and profound that it split the water beneath her before reappearing on the other far side of the harbor with the deformed and bleeding head of a serpent in her hands as one of the necks spasmed and gushed a fountain of sea green blood into the air before falling down with a thunderous crash into the ships docked nearby destroying nearly six ships at once including the two ships that belonged to the Black Sun which was an unintended bonus, but not an unwelcome one as far as Shoko was concerned as it would save her the effort of destroying their ships later. The dragon head had no time to react at all to the bullet that was Yugito's beast form.
Channeling his Yōki filled energy into the palm of his hand Naruto reconverted it back to chakra now that he was starting to feel the beginning strain on his body that Winter Fairy King Mode causes him. He no longer needed that mode at this time now that Yugito has gone and transformed into a state more powerful than his. He's never seen a fellow Jinchūriki in a Version 2 State before, but it certainly brought up a lot of questions in the back of his head that he was curious about.
Allowing himself to be flung up into the air by one of the few remaining dragon heads Naruto pumped out a massive amount of chakra to finish what he had started. "Summoning Jutsu: Bring Down the House Jutsu!" With a roar of exertion Naruto summoned one of the massive warrior toads of Mt. Myōboku to his side as he along with the toad fell out of the sky in a plume of white chakra made smoke. Darui saw the danger and was more than quick enough to fall back with the same being said for Yugito who jumped to the roof of a nearby warehouse just as the Toad slammed into the branching body of the massive eight headed sea dragon.
The impact was like a bomb of massive tonnage as the dragons were smashed into the side of the harbor and dunked down into the water by the sheer girth of the toad crushing its collective necks simultaneously. Opening his eyes Naruto looked down to see himself standing on top of the head of a massive aquamarine colored toad with skyscraper sized dual swords strapped to its back by an orange sash around his waist. It was just who he was looking for as he patted the silent toad on his forehead. "Thank you for responding to my summons Gamahiro. I need you to hold down this sea dragon so that I can seal it away." Naruto requested of the normally quiet and reserved warrior toad who simply croaked instead of verbally communicating back to him. Ordinarily one would think Gamahiro was unintelligent or mute and therefore incapable of speaking but they would be wrong as Hiro was very much capable of speech like his fellow brethren it was just that he was an individual of very few words.
Taking his building sized swords out of their sheaths Gamahiro stabbed them into the necks of the nearest dragon heads it could reach since his own girth and sheer sized made it difficult to properly aim at those directly beneath him. Naruto was ready to permanently deal with the threat before him as he signaled to Shoko to join him when a commotion behind him drew his attention back to the harbor where he could see Hinata and Anko fighting a very desperate and very critically injured Ota who was doing everything in his power to escape the two deadly kunoichi who was dead set on capturing him where he stood.
Anko had already pushed the former Special Jōnin of the Hidden Steam Village to the brink and was navigating her way around the many paper bombs he threw down in her way out of desperation when her surrogate little sister and two of her new shadow clones jumped into the fray without warning or hesitation at Ota's flank forcing the injured mercenary to freeze up in fear as he narrowly dodged a gentle fist palm strike that came within inches of slamming into the base of his spine which would have immediately rendered him paralyzed from the waist down.
"Water Style: Severing Wave Jutsu!" Using only one hand for his hand signs Ota barely managed to spit out the razor-sharp pressurized blast of water before Hinata was on him again. Ducking her head down at the last possible fraction of a second Hinata felt the cutting beam of water cut a few strands of her hair off while cutting into the fabric of her armored shirt going down her back. Her other two clones weren't so lucky as her first strike into his stomach caused his neck to jerk to the side cutting the head and torso off of her two clones who were trying to flank her position. "You're within my field of range. Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms!" Hinata roared as she slammed her pointer fingers into the torso of the much older man well over two dozen times while wreaking havoc on his already strained chakra network.
Slamming one final palm strike to Ota's chest Hinata sent the much taller man sailing across the roof of the warehouse they were on into a large industrial air-conditioning unit generator where his back cracked the metal casing the machine was coated in. Groaning in unbearable pain while coughing up copious amounts of blood Ota glared into the eyes of his adversaries with his one still functioning eye with nothing but hatred shimmering in them. "Do you know what you've cost me you bastards! Months of work just to set this operation up and I've only been here a month in this hell hole, and I've made more money now than I did in an entire year's worth of mission pay! I've spent the last three years climbing the ranks of the Black Sun and they finally give me the opportunity to lead my own operation, and this happens! I HATE YOU ALL! I'LL KILL YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND YOU PALED EYED FREAK!" The sheer animosity spewing forth from both the mouth and lone eye of the ringleader would have been more than enough to make Hinata step back and cower if she were still a shy Genin more towards the beginning of her career a little over a year ago but now she didn't back down from the rage and killing intent pouring out of the downed man in waves.
"Yeah, Yeah, dumbass you can whine and complain all you like when I'm breaking you down in my interrogation cell. I just know that the Hidden Leaf would be interested in all of the juicy little secrets crawling around inside your head." Anko smirked while licking her kunai in a seductive manner. She would pull out a lot of her personal tricks from her handbook to get this man to sing like a canary if he were in this far with the Black Sun. What his actions have brought to this peaceful town was unforgivable in every way. She would enjoy breaking him before his inevitable execution or imprisonment dependent on what the higherup's wanted.
"Don't think I'll ever talk you slut! I'm no snitch and I'll make you pay for killing my two friends! I'm not quite done yet!" Ota growled out as a gleam of hate and conniving lust entered his eyes just as Hinata's head twitched ever so slightly to her left. One of the sea dragon heads emerged from the depths of the water underneath Gamahiro's great weight and lunged for Hinata who was realizing quickly that she wouldn't be able to jump to safety in time given how close she found herself to the ledge of the roof they were on. Anko's face was quickly contorting into a visage of horror and fear for her younger charge as she could be seeing turning her body to race towards Hinata who was further back.
Time slowed down for the heiress as her enhanced Byakugan snapped to life in that moment as she felt the Bergmite Hex Crystal that Naruto gave her as a belated birthday present hum to life beneath her shirt as it converted most of her stored up Yōki she normally keeps in her storage seal around her neck into divine grace before flooding it back into her chakra network.
The maw of the dragon's head was upon her before she could blink but it mattered not for the young girl who felt her arms moving for her. Catching the massive dragon's head in the palms of her hands preventing it from swallowing her whole Hinata stood her ground even as the shingles and drywall beneath her feet cracked and buckled beneath her straining feet as the dragon pushed her back foot by foot. Hinata's entire body started to glow in a faint pure white outline as she dug her heels further into the roof beneath her. To say Anko was shocked would be an understatement of the century and so was Ota whose one good eye was bloodshot red as it opened up wide in frantic awe and disbelief. Just then out of the blue a crimson red streak slammed into the crown of the dragon's head buckling it and caving in the roof beneath its chin with the force of the impact which also nearly buckled Hinata's knees out from beneath her.
Yugito had made the snap decision in the spur of the moment to save Hinata and she had done so without prompt from anyone else as her Version 2 Cloak began to recede leaving behind burnt peeled raw skin underneath as the Hidden Cloud Kunoichi was reaching the noticeably short time limit of her time in that form. It was incredibly taxing on her body to use and if she wasn't constantly bouncing around thrashing and destroying the environment around her then it made it even harder to maintain the form. Just entering that state kickstarts a timer that rapidly starts to decrease by the second, standing still or participating in very light combat would be detrimental to the Jinchūriki host in the beginning as the poisonous corrosive chakra would quickly begin to eat away at the host's body and skin, if the host uses the form to expel a lot of chakra in battle then the degradation process is slowed by a small percentage as the host expels most of the corrosive chakra in attacks instead of letting it feast on their flesh.
With a noticeable and genuine look of gratitude on her face Hinata turned her attention to the matter at hand and unleashed a potent dosage of grace into the dragon's mouth without a moment to waste as last-ditch desperate flames could be seen generating in the back of its heavily damaged throat and oral cavity due to Yugito's heavy handed approach. "Overdrive!" With a roar of exertion Hinata discharged a magnifying pulse of her signature technique she's been working on for months now into the beast trying to eat her. The effects were immediate as the large serpentine head began to convulse and spasm in excruciating pain as the dominant and purifying energy of Hinata's divine grace rippled through its body back down into the base where the crystalline structure holds and merges all eight heads together that was now missing a few.
The pulse reached the base of the creature where its crystalline core was submerged beneath the disturbed waves of the shoreline. All eight branches of the sea dragon convulsed in mind numbing pain paralyzing the entire creature and keeping it from wrestling leverage away from Gamahiro who was squatting on their necks keeping it pinned to the ground. Naruto himself who still had the vantage point from on top of Gamahiro's head saw the feat of raw power that his girlfriend was able to muster in that moment of life and death and his facial expression spoke for every emotion currently going through his heart at the moment. Fear, horror, surprise, shock, awe, and then it finally settled on pure unfiltered pride in what his partner was capable of when push came to shove. She has an inner strength just waiting to be unleashed upon the world.
Shoko and Anko both equally shared in this proud sentiment who made a mental note to speak with their young charge later once the battle was finished. Turning back to the task at hand Anko summoned a large twelve-foot-long python with the intention of having it constrict and restrain Ota's defenseless and heavily battered body. The battle was over as far as the Interrogation Specialist was concerned but for Ota Hidemichi his entire life's ambitions were going up in smoke right before his one remaining eye… he was underappreciated back when he was still a loyal member of the Hidden Steam Village and had always yearned for a life of higher importance and status, not to mention luxury and control. The Black Sun valued his information gathering skills and put him to work always keeping him busy and satiated with being able to use his talents to their fullest abilities and now finally after three years of faithful rewarding service the ruling council of the international crime syndicate saw it fit to give him command over his own operation which took months of his hard work to finally set up properly back in his own home country and now all of that was completely destroyed and ripped away from his very grasps.
He was a man pushed to the brink of his sanity after being brutalized and completely outclassed by two children more than half his age who proved to be stronger than him together and by one of the Legendary Titan's themselves. This was his most desperate hour and with his only two loyal friends who abandoned their old village to stay by his side dead Ota no longer had anything else left to lose except for his own life. His chakra reserves were in the red and thanks to Hinata's move just now many of his chakra points were forcibly shut down preventing him from calling upon his chakra for any further high level ninjutsu. He saw the large python coming and now knew this to be his final gambit. He had just enough control and chakra left for one final Jutsu and even then, it would be painful to try and execute the technique and brute force it through to completion with his chakra network in turmoil and shut down, but this was it.
Ota knew that he'd either succeed and buy himself the extra few seconds to live and potentially escape or he would die… there was no in-between… there was no third option of allowing himself to be captured. It was unforgivable and he'd commit any desperate act such as the one he was about to do now in order to prevent that fate from coming to pass.
Hinata and Anko approached Ota's still form with the intent of capturing the man alive. In the beginning all three of these men were to be killed but a source of information from the ringleader himself was far more valuable to both the Hidden Leaf and the Jasmine Dragon Mafia now that they've seen the desperate lengths that he's willing to go through to prevent his death or capture. The resources he's called upon such as this massive Yamata no Orochi was a clear indicator that when push comes to shove the Black Sun was a far more dangerous organization than what anyone has realized before. They were well organized, funded, connected, and had resources at their disposal that allows them readily available access to the supernatural world to call upon such weapons of mass destruction.
Hinata's Byakugan were illuminated by their special golden glow as she raised her hand in preparation for stunning the down man one final time. Familiar golden ripples could be seen flowing down her fingertips as she was going to strike after Anko's snake had him wrapped up to knock him unconscious. He would need medical attention if he were to survive his injuries which would be provided for him, but his accommodations wouldn't be hospitable in the least.
"Ota Hidemichi, you are now under arrest and in the custody of the Hidden Leaf. Your evil machinations and ambitions end here today… this is your fate." Hinata's voice was almost not her own as she spoke these words and her cadence sounded exactly the same as the time many months ago when she and Naruto along with Jiraiya stopped by Firebend Town once more on their search for Tsunade. The way she and Naruto interrogated the mayor of the town and ultimately executed him for his crimes was exactly the same behavior she was exhibiting right now.
It was also for this very peculiar state of mind that momentarily took Anko by surprise that Hinata then noticed the terrible gleam in Ota's lone eye that was filled with nothing more than a rabid sense of desperation and rage. The Hyūga heiress took one startled breath before she immediately yanked on Anko's arm to stop her advance. Her danger senses were enhanced by her stronger Byakugan so she could see what Ota's next move was to be through her penetrative x-ray vision gaze. Anko's instincts kicked in at that exact moment as well as a long time veteran and together both girls leapt back just as the seething man made his move. "Go to hell." His voice came in with a trembling whisper before he raised his head to meet the gaze of his captors. "GO TO HELL!" His voice as that of a terrible roar with froth and spit flying from his mouth like a rabid animal as all his rage and anger came spilling out of him in one final desperate move.
His chakra enhanced battle armor was in ruin as it stood but the power core was still very much intact, and he wasted no time in ejecting it from the suit. It immediately became destabilized due to the damage the armor had already taken but that wasn't the only threat. In Ota's hands were a stack of over 100 paper bombs that he scattered to the wind like he was throwing out money to the homeless. It was indiscriminate, hazardous, and outright suicidal to do such a thing let alone to even keep that many explosives on your person but at this point the mercenary could care less as each tag began to burn as they fluttered about above the rooftop with the breeze carrying them to encircle everyone on it.
There was nothing for any of them to substitute with in their immediate vicinity and using a Body Flicker to jump to the next nearby building that was a short distance away from where Naruto's clone and the children were might not work in time especially with many of the paper tags scattering themselves to the wind and the main power core of Ota's suit dropping to their feet. It truly made Hinata's heart jump into her throat as she's just encountered this exact same scenario not even five minutes earlier while rescuing their children from the resort, this time she wasn't so sure she could just jump away to safety since these tags were blowing in the wind instead of being stuck to the air vent in the apartment unit they were renting. The amount of explosives in the air around them would annihilate not only the building they were on but potential more than half the harbor itself with subsequent secondary explosions setting off chain reactions in nearby buildings and electrical equipment crippling the rest of the harbor. It was too risky to allow the bombs to go off and knowing this Hinata made the split-second decision to act knowing that not just her life was in danger.
"ANKO GET DOWN!" Hinata screamed as she slipped into a bold Gentle Fist stance she's never displayed before and none that any other leaf shinobi has ever seen either. Dropping to the floor immediately without a second thought Anko trusted in her younger surrogate sister's judgement as her own choice would have been to grab Hinata and jump away as far as possible with a massive Body Flicker jump which in the back of her mind Anko knew wouldn't have truly saved them. None of the few Earth Style Ninjutsu she knew either would have protected them if she tried to raise an earthen barrier around them as it would be blown to bits along with the very building they were standing on top of.
Yugito's own instincts kicked in right at that moment as her chakra cloak began to form around her once again but this time it was only a Version 1 Cloak as her body and skin was very much still raw from just shedding off her Version 2 Cloak. She wouldn't be able to summon that state so soon after just powering down not even 30 seconds prior. She didn't have many options available to her to save either herself or her new temporary allies either. Luckily, the decision wouldn't fall to her shoulders as she watched Hinata ease herself into a Gentle Fist stance she's never read about in any of the books or lessons her generation was taught about following the failed kidnapping of the very girl she was laying eyes on.
"Eight Trigrams Gentle Step: Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" A never-before-seen Gentle Fist technique was shown to the world now as Hinata's feet became rooted in the ground while her arms were nothing short of indistinguishable blurs as she produced fine almost invisible thin, sharp, chakra blades from her fingertips that with precision that no shinobi has shown before began to cut each individual paper tag clean in half stopping their fuses and preventing them from detonating.
Bringing her fingers closer together Hinata slashed the energy core of the chakra suit in half destroying the miniature device before it could explode, and this all happened in less than five seconds which was just enough time for Ota to jump back with the last of his strength to the edge of the roof with the water line below them. He was speechless at the masterful display of Taijutsu a girl her age could even pull off and he wasn't even aware any such technique existed within the Hyūga Clan. This sentiment was one shared by everyone present this time as this was the first time Hinata's used this technique within the presence of allies before.
Seeing the situation unfolding the way it was Yugito chose this moment to join Hinata and Anko on the roof just as the older of the two made her move. Ota's actions were moving well beyond the realm of just desperation… he needed to be taken down immediately and secured before it was too late. Flashing through hand signs at a blistering pace Anko slammed her palm onto the roof of the building as purple lines emitting from her fingertips raced across the surface of the roof to Ota's location faster than most could react to. "Ninja Art: Toxic Spikes Jutsu!" It was the same technique that her childhood friend and old colleague Shizune used in her fight against Kabuto many months ago. While Ota didn't know the exact nature of this technique and how harmful it could be he did know without a doubt that he didn't want to be touched by it as he simply let his tired and battered body go slack as he slumped backwards and fell off the roof to avoid Anko's attack and make his final escape.
"NO!" Hinata cried out as she along with her two allies raced to the edge of the building just in time to see their adversaries body smack into the ocean below with a large splash. A discharge of chakra was felt by Anko and Yugito and visually seen by Hinata with her Byakugan who could actually see exactly what Ota was doing beneath the surface of the water. "We have to go after him!" Anko exclaimed as she prepared to jump off the roof, but Yugito was one step ahead as she crouched down before pouncing at the water below her on all fours with an explosive take off. "No! It's too late! He's summoned a creature to his side!" Hinata's verbal warning came too late as Yugito slammed into the water still in her Version 1 Cloak sending out a shockwave and tidal wave of water that surged up onto the docks flooding the area, but her effort would be in vain as she could see the telltale signs of chakra smoke dispelling itself into the water.
Ota was nowhere to be seen, he was no longer there at all and Hinata knew why. She saw it all with her potent eyes and what she saw displeased her greatly. "He got away! How?" Anko asked as she immediately turned to Hinata who had a grim look of disappointment and weariness in her eyes at the accumulation of tonight's events. "He summoned what looks to be a pufferfish that swallowed him whole then it reverse summoned itself. It looks to me like he has his own personal summoning contract that he's contracted too that has nothing to do with this giant sea monster. He's long gone now." The disappointment was clear in Hinata's eyes and in the tone of her voice. She wanted to accomplish her half of the mission to be of more use to Naruto and his assignment. Now the ringleader of this operation was the only survivor who was sure to resurface in the far-flung future for revenge. Someone with the look of insanity in his eyes like Ota has would surely not let things settle as they just did tonight.
Signaling to Yugito to return to them now that their enemy was gone Hinata sighed a tired sigh while turning to face Naruto and his situation which was wrapping up for everyone to see. Diving into the water Naruto alongside Shoko swam beneath the shoreline to where the seas serpents' crystalline core was resting with one objective in mind. Floating down to each side of the core mother and son went through a rapid sequence of hand seals that was familiar to the both of them and recently taught to Naruto himself while training at the beach for the past few days. He's studied up on this particular technique for the last few months, especially ever since the need for it arose during the mission to the land of snow. It was a relatively short multistep sequence of techniques that they needed to go through, so they decided to split the workload between them.
"Fūinjutsu: Contract Seal Removal!" Shoko was first as she placed her palm against the core and immediately seals began to spread across its surface removing its remote control from both Ota and the Magic Circle that binds it to the physical realm. "Fūinjutsu: Contract Seal Overwrite!" Naruto in sequence behind her did the same by placing his palm against the creature's crystal core but this time he transferred control of the contract controlling the sea dragon over to himself. Taking it a step further Naruto placed his other hand on the crystal and concentrated his chakra into his next move as a magic circle designed with the Uzumaki swirl in the center that was colored blue and white emerged underneath his palms.
"Binding Contract Magic: Familiar Binding!" Using the same technique, he used months back on his first patrol mission as a newly promoted Chūnin Naruto engulfed the entire crystal stone in his magic glyph completely bringing the massive eight headed Yamata no Orochi under his temporary command. He's taken away the ability for Ota to recall or control the creature to his side anymore and destroyed the link it had to the old Magic Circle and the formula that is needed to summon it in the first place. All that is left is the temporary familiar link that is established between the two of them now. This wasn't a permanent contract that would allow Naruto to summon and control this creature anytime he wanted… that would come later after he's had time to process all that has happened. Such an endeavor would take more time than what he was currently devoting to the task of taking away this creature's link to its previous master. He would worry about potentially keeping this creature for himself at a later date when he was in a safe and controlled environment.
With one final move ahead of them Naruto and Shoko went through identical sequences of hand seals that she recently taught him while they practiced the beach. The execution was flawless as far as Shoko was concern which didn't surprise the purpled haired titan in the least… it was in Naruto's very DNA to get the hang of this technique so quickly.
"Uzumaki Style Sealing!" Together surrogate mother and son duo unleashed the most potent and purest form of Fūinjutsu in the world for the first time together in over a decade and a half. Long ribbons of sealing symbols stretched out of their hands and encircled the massive crystal stone in a classic spiral shaped pattern that glowed with the ancestral power of Naruto's long deceased family. Immediately the effects were shown as the entire body of the creature was sucked into the sealing formula that dragged it down into itself as the symbols continued to churn and spiral inwards on itself like a whirlpool.
In thirty seconds, the entire sea serpent was sealed away within the sealing formula that with the addition of an extra set of hand seals from Shoko redirected the now completed technique to be placed on the palm of Naruto's hands as the formula shrunk down to fit his body in the blink of an eye.
It was over now… the enemy had been defeated thoroughly and Turquoise Cove was now safe from total annihilation. Swimming back to the surface of the ocean above them Naruto and Shoko each gave each other a daunting look of exasperation. Tonight, was an emotional struggle far and beyond surpassing anything they originally thought possible.
1 Hour Later – Turquoise Cove: Salt Stone Harbor
The entire warehouse was trashed from the earlier fight that took place inside it. From Shoko's usage of water to it being then frozen over by Naruto's ice the place wasn't in top shape anymore. The many crates filled to the brim with illegal Spice and weapon caches were frosted over with a thin layer of ice from Naruto's earlier attack. Over four dozen shadow clones were out and about defrosting the now dead bodies of the thugs and Black Sun mercs so that they could be placed in Corpse Transportation Scrolls otherwise known as Coroner Scrolls. They were specifically designed to transport dead bodies of either allies or enemies while perfectly preserving them in suspended animation within the sealing matrix allowing all of the forensic data to be perfectly preserved on the body for a medical examiner to perform their duties. This unique and beautiful piece of Fūinjutsu and Iryōjutsu blended together into such mastery was invented by Tsunade Senju who tapped into her Uzumaki ancestry to create such a technique. She revealed this new scroll herself back during the Second Shinobi World War when she was pressing and advocating for the advancements of more medical science studies and professionally trained medical combat ninja.
In a terrible twist of fate, she had to be the one to seal up the mutilated dead body of her fiancé Dan Kato into one of the first scrolls that she completed just a few days prior. Since that time decades ago these Corpse Scrolls have become mass produced in all standard villages across the continent and its now a standard issue mainstay utility item in shinobi who are Chūnin rank and above.
These bodies were being sealed away at a steady pace by Naruto's clones while another batch tended to the illegal shipments packaged in crates. Up in the administration office that Ota previously occupied the three bodies of his subordinates along with Kugo's body was recovered and sealed away already. It was here in this office that the various groups gathered while Naruto's clones handled the cleanup down below in the cargo bay with the assistance of Anko and a Shadow Clone of Hinata's that was helping coordinate the efforts of her boyfriend's clone army in a more highly efficient manner using her own Byakugan.
"I've healed your students cracked ribs and other internal bruising but I'm leaving his cracked jaw for your own medics to heal up once you return to your village. I'd rather not give him back the ability to talk only to end up hearing him spout off more nonsense that will definitely result in me killing him." Shoko spoke in a soft manner that still toted a line that was carved by a razor fine edge. She was doing this small act of mercy and kindness so that Atsui didn't end up accidentally dying on them on their way back to the Hidden Cloud Village if they themselves didn't have any way to patch him up in the meantime. Him dying as a result of the injuries she caused him when she backhanded him so hard that his jaw shattered, and he flew through several metal shelves that cracked his ribs would only gaslight the delicate situation their two teams and respective countries were in right now. Some of the more militant and hardline factions within the Hidden Cloud government would use his death and this incident to potentially renew hostilities between their countries and probably push for war.
Darui himself knew this as he watched Shoko finish patching up his wayward student with the delicate greenish hue of her healing chakra receding from her palm. Atsui was still unconscious, and Shoko made sure he stayed that way with a simple application of her medical ninjutsu which even Darui was grateful for as he didn't want to have to deal with his disruptive student again now that hostilities and the battle itself has passed. He was getting off relatively scot-free considering the fact that Atsui initiated the hostilities between their two teams with his gaslighting and aggressive attitude. Him actually flying off the handle and recklessly resulting to physically attacking Hinata, a member of the Hidden Leaf village in an unprovoked and unsolicited attack would have been grounds enough for Hinata to kill him in self-defense or for Shoko herself to follow through with her earlier warnings and threats and they would legally be in the right with justification on their side.
The fact that his entire team was alive and were no longer in conflict with their neutral enemy of the leaf was a saving grace that Darui wouldn't overlook or take for granted. He had a lot on his mind revolving around the rollercoaster of events that transpired over the last few days. He was just grateful that the storm had passed so to speak. Turning to pan his gaze over to the real Naruto and Hinata the Black Panther of the Hidden Cloud village was treated to the sight of a much different side of the prodigal Chūnin couple.
A tender less jaded look was in Naruto's eyes as he held Naho in his arms with Moegi latched onto his back once more while Hinata herself carried Ai in one hand while holding the hand of Shion to comfort the younger siblings of the bunch. Ai had her bottle tucked securely into her mouth as she drank the nutrient filled milk inside while also using it as a pacifier to calm her nerves from the hectic night that the Uzumaki children all had to endure. They haven't seen a single spark of violence since their father rescued them from their imprisonment on Hōrai Island nearly six months ago. He's done a good job to keep the violence and danger of the shinobi lifestyle away from them since then until tonight that is. Despite all of them walking away from the incident without injuries this was still an uncomfortably narrow escape from Naruto's perspective, especially with Naho almost getting killed by the Ogre monster.
Naruto silently promised himself that he would spoil his children for the next several days after returning home from what was supposed to be a family vacation. For however long he still had on his extended leave from missions he would devote all of that time to his children to make up for the catastrophe that this family getaway turned into. "Is this the place that the battle started in?" Naho whispered into Naruto's ear as her highly intelligent eyes wandered the room with a level of intelligence and scrutiny that no civilian nine-year-old should ever possess. She was seeing things that no other child her age range could see. Forensic levels of details, clues, and images flooded the young girl's mind as she could visualize to a basic rough estimate what might have transpired within the confines of this very room not even 30 minutes prior.
From the dent in the wall behind the door jamb from where Naruto, Hinata, and Henrietta breached the door to the room causing it to fly open smacking into the wall behind it; next the completely flipped over desk that was near the entrance from where Ota kicked it leading to the kickoff of the battle; and finally to the blown out panoramic windows that had the edges of the shattered glass frosted over from where Naruto forced the enemies out of the room with his Ice Ground Spears technique; all of these minute details were noticeable to the little girl who's never witnessed a spark of shinobi battles a day in her life. This was her very first time seeing the aftermath of a battle between shinobi or other armed groups before and yet she could visually recreate to a rough estimate what must have transpired in this room within her mind.
Naho's prestigious levels of intelligence was something truly frightening and awe inspiring to bear witness to Naruto thought as he could clearly see the shine of foresight within the crown princess's eyes as they roamed the entire room within seconds. The one and only thing that was altered about the room was the missing bodies of the grunts the teenage group initially killed upon breaching the room. "Yes… yes, it is." Naruto replied in a short answer as he knew what she really wanted to ask him… it was the same insecurities and fear that had crept up into her heart in the moments prior to his team leaving to being the battle. "Did you beat the bad guys again like your promised… did they die?" Roku mumbled aloud next as he spied a splotch of blood splattered on the bookshelf across the room from where one of the mercenaries was killed upon their entry. It was a truly messy affair and not one Naruto wanted to recount to his children and the tightening of Naho's hands against his chest confirmed to him that Roku unintentionally hit the head on the nail of the emotional question the little princess really wanted answered.
"Yeah kiddo… I beat the bad guys again just like I promised… and will always continue to promise." Naruto answered back softly while gently rubbing his rowdy adoptive son on his head while deliberately and obviously leaving the second part of his question hanging in the air with a subtle look of understanding and discretion between father and son. It was a look that Naho didn't miss in the slightest as her heart rate sped up a few notches. She buried her face in Naruto's chest but not a sound escaped her lips in the slightest.
A frown came to both Naruto's and Hinata's lips at this action but there wasn't much to be said now that all was said and done. Darui observed these interactions and a few more from the group of teenagers and little children and a feeling of contentment overtook the Elite Jōnin's heart. The way the two of them interacted with each other went way beyond the scope of a teenage romance and relationship which was intel granted to him from his village's intelligence resources and the national Bingo Book. The way these two partners interacted was almost parental like, almost like a married couple with children. It honestly baffled Darui's mind and he wasn't the only one to witness this as Yugito despite her own social awkwardness and shortcomings could see something special between the two romantic partners and that caused an unknown tightness to form in her chest that she's never experienced before, the emotion and the slight discomfort that came with it was foreign to the socially stunted teenager, but she also couldn't deny the wholesomeness of the scene either.
Looking down into the eyes of Iris and Chaos who were peering down into the cargo bay below them from the blown out panoramic windows Darui felt his nerves go haywire. Iris's glowing blue eyes and the sheer depth of insanity and darkness found within Chaos's unhinged eyes disturbed the Jōnin in ways he's never quite felt before. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that these two little girls weren't human. It was faint but he could just barely sense the vast event horizon of the power shimmering just beneath the surface of their skins. He couldn't tell what they were, but he's had experience in the past with dealing with supernatural creatures disguising themselves as human. Quite a few of these individuals could be found within his own village. They were common but not to prevalent in the heart of the village, they tended to keep to themselves. Every fiber of his being was desperately clawing at him to ask the question of what these two little girls were and that of the rest of their siblings to either Naruto or Shoko to get an answer, but he knew deep down that he'd be out of line with trying to fish for information and leverage on this group who has now shown him neutrality and peace. So, he let it go… even though he really didn't want to. Instead, he would replace that potential question with a different action… one that the moral compass that guides him demanded.
Clearing his throat Darui grabbed their attention with a display of humility and respect that would leave a lasting impression upon the young adolescent couple for years to come. "Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyūga our groups got off on the wrong foot these past few days and because of that I wanted to apologize for my students' horrendous actions and transgressions against you two, particularly you Lady Hyūga. Atsui's deep seeded grudge against your family is a toxic mentality shared by certain factions and ideologies within my village and they've come to sadly poison the minds of some of our youth but none more so than that of Atsui himself. It was his father who was the emissary who tried and ultimately failed to kidnap you on your third birthday. I can't imagine the impact that must have had on you and your family and while it is of my personal opinion that I despise some of my village's less than reputable practices I unfortunately cannot speak for the entirety of them… but from my own free will, I would like to apologize to you for the experience you've had to have with us and the image of my village. I'm terribly sorry for the trouble we've caused you."
This heartfelt and emotionally charged apology completely left the room as silent as a graveyard as Darui's words pierced Hinata's heart harder than the time Neji almost ruptured her heart during the match in the Chūnin Exam preliminaries. Never in her life did Hinata ever think she would hear any form of an apology from a Hidden Cloud ninja and now that it was out in the open a breathless gasp left Hinata's lips, she was completely and utterly speechless and so was Naruto and the others. Shoko's facial expression broke from the stoic and slightly scathing scowl for the first time since dealing with Team 3 to that of a slightly unhinged jaw. Never did she ever expect to live to see the day a Hidden Cloud shinobi would apologize for anything that they've done. It was entirely unheard of from her own personal experience.
He even had the genuine audacity to extend a humble courteous bow in the young heiress's direction. It took Hinata several moments to recompose herself and find her voice again but when she did small tears filled with gratitude and respect could be seen misting over the young heiress's lilac-colored eyes. Bowing back in an act of gratitude Hinata spoke what was on her heart. "Thank you so much sir… those are truly special words towards me that I'd never thought to hear. I'm grateful for your generosity and genuine compassion. I only wish that I could meet others like you from your village, maybe then there wouldn't need to be such animosity and bad blood between my clan and your village." A gentle smile formed on Hinata's lips as a large portion of the emotional bagged and the weight behind it finally lifted itself from her shoulders… she couldn't expect an apology from Atsui and his transgressions against her nor the Raikage for ordering the mission in the first place, but she now has a certain amount of closure and reassurance about the whole affair that she never once dreamed of getting. To Hinata, this was worth everything that has transpired between their groups up until this point.
Naruto's emotions were in a whirlwind inside his heart right now as his perception of the foreign team began to change right before his very eyes. He could see just how much Darui's genuine words meant to Hinata and the kindness and genuine honesty and integrity that reflected off of the dull dark orbs of Darui's eyes showed everything he needed to know about the veteran from the Hidden Cloud. His eyes were filled with honor, integrity, honesty, compassion, and a sense of pride that couldn't be faked or misinterpreted. He reminded Naruto of Kakashi and Jiraiya as far as the same sensation he felt when looking into their eyes. Darui was a true shinobi down to the marrow of his bones and to his soul itself and without warning Naruto found his true respect for this shinobi shoot to near the very top of his personal list in a matter of seconds. He would need to reevaluate how he thought of Team 3 if they were being led by a man of Darui's stature and virtue.
"I'm sorry too… for the way things escalated between our groups and for my own behavior in the mix. I see now that there are truly honorable and kind people among your village. I hope to meet more people like you Darui." Naruto spoke up while boldly walking forward to shake the hand of the much older Jōnin who didn't hesitate in returning the gesture with a strong and sturdy grip. "I would like that very much young Uzumaki… in fact I have a close friend of mine whose my senior that I'd like for you to meet one day. You two have a lot in common… especially the fierce loyalty, love, and compassion that I can see burning in your eyes. You two share more in common than you'd initially realize." Darui complimented graciously as he backed off from the handshake. Shoko quirked her eyebrow at this as she immediately knew who Darui was referring to. "You mean Killer B don't you…" The titan mused to herself with Darui nodding in confirmation.
When asked by Naruto and Hinata who that might be Darui was more than happy to answer. It wasn't a secret to anyone whose stuck their nose into even one Bingo Book before. "Killer B is the younger brother of the Raikage and the Jinchūriki host of the Eight Tails. He's the world's strongest Jinchūriki and one of the very few in history to claim the title of Perfect Jinchūriki for having complete and total mastery over his Tailed Beast and its power." To say that Naruto was shell shocked would be an understatement of the century as he spoke at length for a few minutes more with Darui to get a basic understanding of who Killer B was and some of his public accomplishments when Hinata's clone alerted the others to a discrepancy it found.
Quickly joining the clone down in the cargo bay of the warehouse the others gathered around the clone who pointed out that the contents of two of the crates were missing while the crates themselves were left behind. The only thing of note was the fact that there was very subtle tampering of the lid to the container that was frozen over solid like everything else in the building by Naruto's earlier attack. The ice around the lid was obviously disturbed when one looked extremely close to it and this fact was only picked up by Hinata's clone because of her immensely powerful and sensitive Byakugan.
"An inventory of at least five basic chakra armor suits and 10 pounds of various spices are missing and one loot crate of blank special grade sealing tags which you could use to make any kind of Fūinjutsu seal with for both humans and supernatural creatures. This is bad Naruto… really bad. Those items are definitely in the hands of the wrong people." Hinata's clone spoke in a grim tone as the others adopted the same looks on their faces as well. "Lady Shoko I want…" Darui began to speak but he was cut off by Shoko who simply shook her head. "I know you nor your team was responsible for this Darui. This wasn't your doing… I just don't know who or what could have slipped past our notice to get away with this level of espionage and subterfuge during the middle of our battle while our senses were at their maximum." Shoko growled in concern as this was an extremely dangerous and concerning situation to ponder. Someone else was present in the town during this whole fiasco and they clearly had their own agenda.
"Unfortunately, I think I may know at least who may be responsible for this." The real Hinata spoke with a glare in her usually docile eyes as she didn't waste time explaining to Shoko and the others present what had transpired back at the hotel which was now partially destroyed due to their battle. To say that Shoko was disturbed by this revelation would be the understatement of the century. To have a danger that serious literally right above their heads the entire time was nerve racking to say the least for the Legendary Titan. It certainly narrowed down the potential list of suspects capable of even having the skills necessary to pull this off, but it still didn't pinpoint exactly who could be responsible and unfortunately Shoko didn't like some of the potential names or factions she had in mind.
Another hour later and with the gracious and unsolicited assistance of Darui and Yugito the entire group managed to scrub the warehouse clean of their presence as well as remove all of the Black Sun's products from within with all of it being sealed away by Naruto and Shoko. Not much else was needed to be said between the two factions as both teams stood at the main gate to Turquoise Cove. Atsui was still unconscious and wouldn't awaken for some time and he was being carried by Kiyoi who was instructed by his sensei to remain quiet during the time the two teams were in close contact with each other. Their business was done and as far as Team 3 was concerned their mission was scrapped and aborted a while ago. There was nothing they could do with the Hidden Leaf so far ahead of them and yet still gracious enough to be cordial with them when the dust settled. They were even granted a substantial amount of money from the hidden coffers Naruto discovered within Ota's office.
He had stashed away 35 million Ryō is bills which was no longer needed by the Black Sun as far as Naruto was concerned. He gave Team 3 an astonishing 250,000 Ryō in compensation for their scrapped mission which was far and above more money than what they were being paid for to begin with while he then anonymously donated just over 15 million Ryō to the mayor of the town to help with the extensive repairs the destruction of their battles caused to many locations in the town including the resort in which they were staying. Naruto then pocketed the last remain 20 million Ryō to bring back to the Hidden Leaf. That money would go a long way to helping the village with the last of the repairs needed from the aftermath of the invasion nearly six months ago. Furthermore, it could go to promoting the institutes such as the hospital and shinobi academy to help bolster their ranks and bring their numbers back up to snuff.
Shaking Yugito's hand this time Naruto allowed a small polite smile to grace his face. He had no intention of reconciling with Atsui as things stood now but he could extend his gratitude and trust to Darui and Yugito who stepped up to the plate during his fight when they didn't have to and time and time again since their first encounter, they worked towards being the voice of reason, honor, integrity, and compassion within their group. His respect for them rose significantly during the last few hours of getting to know them without the veil of hostilities clouding his better judgement.
"Thank you for helping us during our fight Yugito… I hope our paths cross again on more peaceful terms." Naruto softly stated with Hinata also shaking the slightly older girls' hand as well for her part in assisting her on the rooftop against one of the dragon heads. The young Jinchūriki had a kindness to her soul that was comforting to know for the leaf couple. It proved that they could find common ground with their countries countless decades spanning rivals and many time enemies. It would be a tough road ahead and an even steeper hill to climb before the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud could put all of their animosity behind them in the past to become future allies but as far as the young couple was concerned, they were content with making two new friends that they could be on friendly terms with for the future.
Of course, Hinata was the last person to ever accuse of being blind, so she didn't miss the subtle tightening of Yugito's hands while shaking Naruto's, or the lingering gaze she held with his eyes, or the even more telling faint but still visible blush on her pale white skin. An inaudible sigh escaped Hinata's lips when no one was looking. It would seem somehow Naruto's deadly feminine killing charms were still in effect as she casted a very minute and subtle jealous glare over to the back of her boyfriend's head who felt a deadly chill run up his spine. She would be sure to have a nice long chat with him soon enough. "Likewise, uhm… Uzumaki…" Yugito wasn't the most sociable butterfly in the garden, but she was trying as she pulled her hand back in a shy manner.
"In the future I'd like to sit down and have an actual conversation with you. It would seem the Nine Tails has a lot it would like to say to you and your Tailed Beast. He's been giving me not so subtle growls and warnings since the moment you showed up." Naruto mused as he watched Yugito's eyes dull over for a quick moment which clued him into the fact she might be speaking to Matatabi within her mind. "My tenant agrees to this as well." Yugito mumbled out in a hushed manner as she didn't want to refer to Matatabi as her mother in front of Naruto for some reason which felt oddly enough like embarrassment and on the other hand the massive flaming cat wasn't too thrilled at the idea of being on the bad side of her oldest sibling after the bad blood between them.
Preparing himself to leave with his team Darui took one last look at Naruto and specifically at the little girl still clinging fiercely to his body and for a brief moment a shimmer reflected off of her body that was just barely visible to Darui's experienced eyes. This entire time since right before meeting Darui's Team 3 on the beach Shoko has had the princess under a powerful self-sustaining body modifying Genjutsu to hide her true physical appearance. All she did was change her hair and eye colors to perfectly match that of Naruto and the rest of his family, but she didn't have much time for anything else. While Darui couldn't pierce the veil of Shoko's extremely powerful Genjutsu his best friend and partner C was a Genjutsu master on the equal caliber of someone like Kurenai Yūhi or members of the Hidden Leaf's Genjutsu family the Kurama Clan.
All it took was for a few moments of very intense hard staring for the color of Darui's very dark skin to lose a few of its shades. He recognized who this little girl was. There was very few and he truly did mean very few public pictures of the crown princess of the Land of Fire out in circulation as Saitou the Fire Daimyō had gone to extensive and obsessive lengths to protect Naho to the best of his abilities. The potential for her to be kidnapped or worst was always a factor in the back of his mind so most citizens, especially those from foreign countries didn't even know what she looked like. Of course, if they saw her with her royal guards and samurai of the royal court like the time that she had her impromptu date with Naruto back in the Leaf Village then most people with a brain could put two and two together but it was in fact very rare for anyone outside the capitol or royal court to actually see Naho from afar much less up close and personal like Darui was getting now which no foreign shinobi has ever done in her entire life.
"I know Darui… but just let it be… just let it be…" Shoko curt and sharp voice cut into the inner musings of Darui's mind as he wordlessly turned to Shoko to see a hazardous look buried deep within the confines of her eyes. She knew that he recognized Princess Naho's real identity. He's only seen one photo of her and that was acquired three years ago by their village's intelligence agency, and they went to great pains just to acquire that intel. It was the only physical proof they had that the Fire Daimyō's daughter really existed. That one photo from when she was six was all Darui needed to be able to identify her.
Swallowing out of a nervous reflex Darui's body visible relaxed back into his lazy posture. "It's been fun Lady Shoko; I do hope our paths cross again in the future on more pleasant terms. Hopefully, next time it can be duller and more peaceful than all this excitement and commotion we found ourselves in. Goodbye Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyūga. I hope our paths cross again as well." Darui the Black Panther stated as he gave a lazy wave over his shoulder to the Hidden Leaf delegation behind him as he and his three students began their trek out of the city and back up towards the northeast to the Land of Lightning and their home the Hidden Cloud Village.
Yugito trailed off a shy hesitant wave over her shoulder as well specifically towards Naruto and Hinata who politely returned the gesture even though the Hyūga heiress not so subtly bumped her shoulders with her boyfriend with a constrained smile on her face. Kiyoi remained silent as instructed with his teammate Atsui secured across his back in a makeshift sling for the long journey home. One thing was for sure he had a lot going on in his mind regarding his brief and very sparse encounter with his counterpart from the Jasmine Dragon Mafia… the gap between them as far as experienced was concerned was more like a canyon… that thought terrified the boy more than he'd ever let on.
'Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyūga had the crown princess of the Fire Daimyō in their custody this entire time… for what reason and what is the nature of their relationship and that of theirs to the Fire Daimyō himself. Those two are the biggest mystery I've ever come across and I know for a fact the Boss's head is going to be spinning for months to come regarding this matter. That boy has to be the son of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki. The resemblance is freakishly uncanny along with his ability to use the Rasengan and the fact he knows advanced Uzumaki Style Fūinjutsu like his mother despite the art being lost since the last war is a dead giveaway, especially with Shoko acting as his guardian. I can't help but feel I just ran into a group of special individuals that will shape this world for generations to come… especially if they reach successes that surpass their parents.' Darui mused to himself as he walked down the path that he was on into the incredibly early sunrise of the new day.
The battle that was fought in this town may seem insignificant on the surface, but its repercussions would be felt in the years to come of that Darui was sure of and in the back of his mind he felt his new friends had an inkling of that same feeling as well.
Naruto and his family watched Darui, and his teams' silhouettes disappear over the horizon as dawn was quickly approaching now that the twilight of the night was leaving the scars that plagued this city behind. "What do we do now Naruto?" Naho asked her only friend and not so secret crush as she buried her face into his chest as the cool breeze chilled her skin. A truly tired sigh escaped Naruto's lips as the very first sun rays peaked out over the horizon of the ocean behind them. "We go home Naho… we get you back home."
To be continued...
Jutsu Library
1.) Body Flicker Jutsu - A high speed ninja technique that allows the user to travel at high speeds in short microbursts. Usually, the technique is accompanied by a special effect that masks the movement of the user.
2.) Double Acceleration - The first variant of Accelerating Turn that works the same way as the original. The user stores up kinetic energy in their body but the difference is at this point. The user separates the built-up energy into two separate pockets surrounded by a shell of the user's internal energy (Chakra, Yōki, etc.), the two bubbles of kinetic energy is pressed up against each other and concentrated at the user's feet creating which in turn creates tremendous amounts of pressure on the body. Once released the added pressure results in a massive shockwave of kinetic energy that propels the user forwards at incredible speeds. The user then releases the second and final bubble of kinetic energy after the first gets depleted allowing them to speed back up again. Because of this there is a brief amount of lag in between each jump but the lag spike is so short that only experienced fighters would be able to notice or counter it.
The next level to Naruto's signature Acceleration Technique. This move is so strong that when it is used it unleashes a shockwave of pure chakra that can shatter and blow things in the immediate vicinity away. The move also blows away the opponent in which Naruto decides to use this move on. The level of speed Naruto attains with this is more than what a prominent level Jōnin can produce using a Body Flicker. The explosive speed is immense and destructive.
3.) Kenjutsu: Accelerated Decapitation - Shrouding himself in his Accel Cloak, Naruto who has a sword or bladed weapon in his hands disappears in a burst of speed granted to him by his Accel Turn and swiftly decapitates his target in one fluid and quick motion. The victim will have no time to react since this technique is used at point black range and it is used during the element of surprise which will catch the opponent off guard.
4.) Water Style: Water Palm Blade Jutsu - Based off of a combination of Taijutsu and Water Style Ninjutsu. The user combats his enemy in close quarters combat to maneuver them into a disadvantageous position from which the user will strike with a rising uppercut sending their target into the air where they are presumed to be vulnerable. The user will concentrate Water Nature Chakra into the palm of their hands while keeping that hand in a rigid knife hand posture where a thin but sharp blade made out of water will materialize. With this blade in hand the user can cut, hack, or slash into their enemy blasting them yards away or out of the air if desired. One thing of note is the fact the water blade itself isn't very durable and significant enough force from a superior technique or a counter strike from a stronger opponent can easily shatter the blade of water and destroy the user's hand if they aren't careful.
5.) Water Style: Water Forge Jutsu - By gathering water around the user's sword, it generates a rapidly swirling stream. Once striking with it, it unleashes a strong surge of water to launch a target.
6.) Wind Style: Gale Palms Jutsu - A low level C – Rank Wind Style technique where the user either increases their own velocity or that over others; or by the user clasping their hands together, wind is compressed and transformed into a powerful gale, which has enough force to knock over a person. When used in conjunction with shuriken or kunai, the tools become more lethal as their speed is increased.
7.) Kenjutsu: Cloud Style – Flame Beheading - The user first imbues their blade with fire, before slashing in the direction of the desired enemy, resulting in the creation of large arcs of intense flame that follow the trajectory of the previous swing. A skilled user of this technique, such as Atsui, is capable of surrounding their immediate area with a circular wall of flames, incinerating multiple targets even if they approach from numerous angles simultaneously.
8.) Gentle Step First Dance: Eight Trigrams Sea Lance - The first of Hinata's Gentle Step techniques designed in the format of dances; it takes advantage of Hinata's unique dance like hybrid Taijutsu style. Hinata attacks her opponent with this style closing off multiple Tenketsu across the opponent's body with Yōki enhanced chakra strikes that if Hinata wills it will seal off the chakra nodes permanently. Hinata primarily focuses on attacking the midsection and torso of the opponent while simultaneously driving the person back. Hinata finishes off the combo attack by placing both her palms together into a spear formation that she slams into the gut of her target sending them flying with a pressurized geyser of water formed from the pressure built up in between her two palms.
9.) Rasengan - The Rasengan is a spinning ball of chakra formed and held in the palm of the user's hand. Once it is formed, it also does not require any additional chakra to sustain it, which means that there is no definite limit to how long the Rasengan can be used. Though the Rasengan's shape is consistent from user to user, its size varies from only barely large enough to be noticeable to much larger than the user's hand. With greater experience with the Rasengan comes a larger size. On contact, the Rasengan grinds into its target, propels them along the Rasengan's trajectory - either away from the user or into the ground beneath them - and at some point, bursts causing severe damage at the point of contact.
10.) Flaming Cat Claw: Sapphire Ember - A signature and unique technique exclusive to Yugito Nii that allows her to extend her fingernails and toenails up to a foot in length turning them into razor sharp chakra conducting claws. Streaming her potent Tailed Beast Chakra into her claws a sapphire colored flame will appear on them which is the signature color Yugito's Fire Nature Chakra exhibits since she is the host of Matatabi. This attack is extremely potent and allows Yugito to cut through wood, brick, concrete, body armor, metallic armor and even steel. This attack was also strong enough to clash with the Rasengan for a very brief moment in time.
11.) Confusion - A Psychic Type Attack that is very useful. Aria's eyes glow blue and an outline of blue energy surrounds her target. Aria focuses Psychic magic into the targets brain to control their every movement. The technique is quite taxing but during its duration Aria has complete control over all of the victim's bodily functions and she can control them however she wishes. After she breaks connection with the target the victim is left in a heavily confused and dizzy state. The confusion can last for up to 10 minutes.
12.) Black Magic: Ominous Wind - Chaos created this technique to give herself versatility and to match her father's Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu that she based this technique off of. Chaos unleashes a large gust of purplish wind that is imbued with her Dark Magic. This attack while powerful is a simple one and is comparable again to her father's own Wind Style technique. The only advantage this technique gives her is the ability to inflict damage on supernatural creatures that are biologically weak to Fallen Angel's and Dark Magic.
13.) Water Style: Water Beast Jutsu - The user manipulates water and transforms it into a giant wolf-like beast. The beast can launch powerful streams of water from its mouth, or sweep the area with its claws to let a powerful torrent of water wash the enemies away.
14.) Light Screen - A Psychic Type Technique that Aria uses. It allows Aria to stop any energy-based attack or Natural force of nature that comes in contact with her barrier which takes the shape of a gold translucent barrier with a pulsating honeycomb like pattern in it. Aria can form the attack in a flat barrier in front of her with the barrier having no defining edge or space. She can form it into a flat pane like a square or rectangle just like her Reflect Technique. Aria can coat her body in this technique and wear it like a second skin. Finally, Aria can project this technique in the shape of a box around her or a target of her choosing. If her barrier was to come in contact with a physical attack in nature, then Aria's barrier will shatter instantly. Light Screen is actually a Senjutsu related technique in nature and as such it can block Senjutsu based attacks and repel Natural Energy of all kinds.
15.) Genjutsu: Misty Follower Jutsu - This technique creates several ghost-like figures clad in black that emerge from the surrounding environment. The figures are somewhat similar in appearance to the caster, but are not his exact look-alikes in the same vein that other clone techniques resemble their users. The black figures move slowly towards their target, provoking the target into attacking. Each time the figures are struck, the attacks pass through them, only briefly disfiguring their form. With each attack they receive, the figures multiply. Because this is only a genjutsu, the black figures cannot do any actual harm to their targets. However, if users - while hiding nearby - coordinate their attacks with the figures', such as by secretly throwing kunai along the same trajectory, targets may not realise the kunai are real and thus won't know to dodge until it's too late. Even if targets can avoid damage, being subjected to this sort of tactic for prolonged periods will inevitably wear them down, making them easy to finish off.
16.) Ninja Art: Fog Clone Jutsu - The user creates hundreds of copies of themselves, each of which, like the standard Clone Technique, has no physical substance and thus cannot be attacked. While opponents attack the clones trying to locate the user, the user secretly moves underground so that opponents will preoccupy themselves looking for someone who isn't there. Once the opponent is too distracted to defend themselves, the user will emerge from the ground in order to attack.
17.) Earth Style: Underground Earth Swimming Jutsu - This technique allows its user to silently emerge from an earthen surface, moving as a fish does underwater. As or after they've emerged, users are often well-placed to perform assassinations or guerrilla attacks. To help them go unnoticed while they strike, users will often combine this technique with clone techniques.
18.) Phoenix Fire: Heatwave - A magic attack that Iris invented during the heat of battle. This technique rapidly heats up the atmosphere around Iris to the boiling point. At full strength, the heat could be comparable to standing on the surface of the sun. The heat is so much that any organic matter around Iris will evaporate almost instantly and inorganic materials will begin to melt after a short amount of exposure to this technique. Iris herself is left completely unharmed by the intense heat but any other person around her would die if they didn't flee in time.
19.) Jinsei no Dangan (Life Bullet) - A bullet made entirely out of life energy. A being gathers life energy into a magic circle and shoots it off in the shape of a small bullet with high penetration power. Because it is made up of life energy it is a powerful source to fuel the power of the attack and very hard to defend against.
20.) Phoenix Fire: Searing Shot - A relatively weak but extremely versatile technique that Iris favors for its simplicity and ease of use. Iris conjures up a small candle size flame on her index finger in a remarkably similar fashion to her sister Chaos. Iris then shoots a blood red fireball that is compacted like a projectile at her targets. The fireball moves at immense speeds and can penetrate targets at high velocities. Iris created this technique for its simplicity and as a way to mirror Chaos's Artemis weapon system.
21.) Phoenix Fire: Inferno - A unique and powerful technique that Iris can use that allows her to conjure up a sapphire colored flame that can burn through barriers, enchantments, spells, and talismans that protects targets and individuals. The fire is also strong enough to be used offensively against a target which is strong enough to overpower most other techniques. Once conjured up the fire will spread preventing other spells from being used as long as the fire continues to rage.
22.) Reflect - A Psychic Type Technique that Aria uses. It allows Aria to half the momentum and velocity of any physical object with mass that comes in contact with her barrier that takes the shape of a square or rectangular pane of clear glass. When Aria packs a lot of Psychic Magic into this technique the glass will appear to have a kaleidoscope of rainbow like colors swimming around on the glass's surface. However, the weakness to this technique is that it can't block any attack against it that is not directly physical in nature such as a punch or a falling rock. If it was struck by a bolt of lightning or hit by a ball of flames the shield would break. If any energy-based attacks or techniques are used against it, then the barrier will also break. Reflect is actually a Senjutsu related technique in nature and as such it can block Senjutsu based attacks and repel Natural Energy of all kinds.
23.) Psybeam - A psychic type attack that is immensely powerful. The user concentrates large amounts of Psychic Magic into focus through a medium or object although there is no proof disproving the attack can't be fired from any body part. After concentrating a sufficient amount of Psychic Magic, the magic becomes visible in the form of a kaleidoscope of colors from all across the light spectrum. The attack is then fired very quickly in a beam at the target. It is powerful enough to break through barriers and push people or objects back considerable distances. An additional affect that Aria incorporated into the move is that if the beam were to hit the victim in their eyes then the opponent would be rendered not only confused but also with severe damage to their equilibrium.
24.) Psywave - Aria's eyes glow light blue as well as her body. Aria then fires concentric light blue rings of psychic energy from her medallions hanging off of her hair. The shockwaves vary in intensity and Aria can choose to send the attack out as a horizontal concentric pulse, a vertical ring like pulse which is her most used variation or as an omnidirectional pulse that hits everything, but the amount of damage done is dispersed over the entire sphere of energy.
25.) Water Style: Raging Rapids - After kneading chakra in their stomach and converting it, the user expels a large surge of water from their mouth.
26.) Mirror Coat - A simple but powerful barrier that Aria can use that allows her to reflect any energy-based attack back at her opponent with twice as much power than the original casting. Aria is surrounded in glowing reflective white substance that looks similar to bubbles on a flat surface. The drawback is that if the attack is far too powerful for Aria to handle or if the attack has more energy in it than her own energy reserves then her technique will shatter and leave her vulnerable.
27.) Agility - A simple technique that Aria uses that increases her speed in the same way that the Body Flicker Jutsu does. When using this technique Aria can disappear and reappear in short burst for short distances. The Psychic energy used in this technique vitalizes Aria's body in exactly the same way Body Flicker does for Ninja.
28.) Psychic - The trademark skill of Aria. Psychic is a jack of all trades technique and it basically combines several of Aria's attacks into one making it Aria's most used technique. Aria can levitate both herself and others with this move which is borrowed from her Telekinesis technique. Aria can fire this attack in the form of an energy ball or beam similar to Psybeam. It can also be used to mind control others similar to Confusion.
29.) Artemis - While her wings are manifested Chaos can conjure her tainted flames and target multiple objects or enemies at the same time using her targeting systems. When they fire they are fast, traveling two to three times faster than the fireballs she shoots from her hands. They are smaller and in the shape of bullets. They have a lot of piercing power but a lower amount of explosive power. They are good at intercepting or bombarding targets.
30.) Kayros - Chaos has the passive ability that is always active to manipulate reality in a relatively small radius of 50m around her and with this ability she can control the events within this predefined space. The most common use of this power that Chaos employs is the ability to teleport short distances towards things and locations that she has scanned and memorized beforehand or that happen to fall within her line of sight. Because of Chaos's ability to warp reality around her not only is the teleportation instant but it is also untraceable not to mention others can't sense her presence. However, Chaos doesn't seem to be able use her other powers while this one is active.
31.) Black Magic: Night Shade - This technique is a very peculiar attack that Chaos can use that directly affects a person's body by damaging a victim's body based on the amount of energy they contain. Chaos fires a black or dark crimson beam which travels similar to lightning; outlined in red, blue, or purple from either her hands or wings at the intended target. Chaos can also use this ability in an omni-directional wave. Chaos's body is surrounded by a purplish aura that dyes her actual body a pale purple color. She then releases multiple crimson rings from her body at the target. When the rings hit the opponent, their body becomes surrounded in a pale purple like aura. The technique works by poisoning a person's energy reserves and causing it to shock the person's body from the inside out like a taser. If the victim has a small pool of energy within their body, then they will barely be affected by this attack. On the other hand, if the victim is a powerful being with large reserves of energy then their very own power will inflict pain on them. It will have the same sensation of being burned or electrocuted from the inside out.
32.) Black Magic: Hex - This is a versatile and multipurpose technique of Chaos that makes her incredibly dangerous. In its base form Chaos can use this technique subtly to place a spell on a person's body that allows her to inflict either damage or bad luck to her victim over a long period of time that is unspecified and undetermined. Chaos can then passively absorb the negative energy her victims are giving off over long distances for the entire duration of the spell. In its more combative nature, Chaos creates a sphere of black energy with a red eye in the middle. The eye then releases multiple dark blue rings of energy at the intended target. If the victim is under the effects of one of Chaos's other techniques: Confuse Ray, Destiny Bond, Dark Void; Then the attack does double the original amount of damage. This also applies to the general status of the target as if the victim is burned or under the effects of another one of Chaos's curses then this boosted damage takes effect.
33.) Dark Magic: Night Slash - A versatile and simple move that Chaos can use at close range. Chaos summons her wings and extends them while covering it in purplish Dark Magic Energy. This increases the cutting and destructive power of her wings and makes it more dangerous to combat her at close range.
34.) Barrier - A technique Aria uses that creates a translucent blue barrier that can block basic attacks. The barrier itself isn't a powerful one at its base level. At its weakest, it can only stop a full powered attack from a C or B rank shinobi or roughly a Chūnin level, to extremely low level Jōnin ninja. In order for it to be incredibly powerful Aria must focus her will and psychic powers into the barrier to power it up to a higher level. Its maximum strength is predetermined by Aria's will and the amount of psychic energy she has left.
35.) Aegis - A unique ability that Chaos demonstrates. She creates a light blue shield that has hexagonal shapes as its pattern. The shield is in the shape of a large sphere that increases its diameter and can encompass anything Chaos wishes it to. Chaos can also summon her Aegis shield at long ranges to encompass objects that are not connected to her; effectively allowing her to trap people, objects, and targets within an inescapable prison.
36.) Substitution Jutsu - One of the three basic Jutsu's required by the academy for everyone (with exceptions of course) to master in order to pass or at the very least to adequately on. This Jutsu is simple in how it works. The user searches or senses out a target and with his chakra he will identify that target and latch onto that object or target with his chakra. Then using his chakra like a beacon and transmitter the user will jump to the location of the object causing the object to switch places with the user so that the user can reconnect with his chakra in a space not already being taken up by said object.
37.) Lightning Style: Amphibious Voltage - A simple yet useful technique from Gamaspeed that allows him to coat his body in lightning as he hops from location to location. As he comes into contact with people Gamaspeed electrocutes them with a taser like effect.
38.) Water Style: Ethanol Bubbles - A dangerous and toxic technique produced by Gamasoap that allows her to trap people in bubbles filled with the chemical ethanol. Just physical contact with the substance is enough to case the victim to have the overwhelming urge to scratch and itch at their skin. If ingested it causes immediate nausea and the urge to vomit.
39.) Accelerated Punch - The only known technique of Acceleration. By molding all of the chakra in the cloak to his fist Naruto can discharge a massive burst of both chakra and kinetic energy that can demolish at this point in time almost anything. However, this attack can be canceled out by an attack of equal force of makeup.
40.) Overdrive - Hinata fuels her fist with her holy magic that is stored inside of her body causing the palms of her hand to glow a purifying and tranquil white color. To utilize the full capabilities of her Light-Based Powers Hinata has to come in physical contact with an object through which she can transfer her Holy Magic into the target in the form of a rippling wave like energy. Once she connects with a target Hinata releases a massive burst of light that shoots off in an omnidirectional rippling and pulsating wave. This wave can purify anything it touches with darks beings such as Demons, Yōkai, Devils, and even Fallen Angel's being the most susceptible to feeling the absolute brunt on this devastating attack. Unlike her normal Gentle Fist attacks an Overdrive pulse will diffuse itself across the entire surface of a person's body sending a rippling wave of energy throughout the person's chakra network that will temporarily block the body's ability to produce chakra from any point in their body. However, if Hinata were to infuse her Holy Grace with her Gentle Fist techniques then she could shut down an entire persons Chakra Network in one strike. Once she connects with her strike the person is launched away from Hinata in a disorienting spin much like how Naruto's Rasengan affects a target.
41.) Water Style: Water Senbon Jutsu - Using the chakra control granted by the Gentle Fist, Hinata concentrates her chakra until water vortices are created around her. Those vortexes shoot water blasts which turn to needle-like water. By using the Byakugan, this technique can be used with great precision to hit exceedingly small targets such as bees which Hinata developed and practiced the technique on with Naruto's help or in this instance of the chapter to match objects of similar size such as Evangeline's ice Senbon needles.
42.) Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu - This defensive technique creates a wall of water around the user. Enemy attacks are completely intercepted by a fence of water blown out from the mouth and is raised from below with tremendous might. The water is blown out in the form of a circle around the user, and it makes for a defense without openings. It is also possible for the user to control the amount of water and duration at will. The wall's strength and resistance change following the quantity of chakra poured down into the water, so a skillful shinobi will be able to build a sturdy one. Furthermore, because the field of vision is maintained even while defending one can easily go on to the next move, which is a great advantage. The wall can also be formed from a pre-existing water source.
43.) Lightning Style: Emotional Wave Jutsu - This is a fusion technique where the user employs Water Style and Lightning Style. After releasing a large water wave from his mouth, he then forms the Lightning Style seals, thereby mixing a lightning strike to the water. If this technique hits an enemy, they instantly receive an electric shock.
- Winter Fairy King Mode - Naruto's advanced Demonic transformation that allows him to turn into a full demon. His skin turns a dull pale color while his hair turns pure snow white. Ice starts to build up in his hair forming a crown with icicle claws forming on his hands. While in this form Naruto is a full demon and his power matches that of his Version 1 State with One Tail. His domain and power over his Ice Style Kekkei Genkai are brought up to their maximum capabilities allowing Naruto to unleash ice attacks at a level he normally would be incapable of. However, the strain of converting the entirety of his Chakra into Yōki puts an immense strain on Naruto's body who can't maintain this form for long.
44.) Wind Style: Hurricane Vortex Wall Jutsu - A high B – Rank technique in difficulty to learn and master. The user summons a swirling stream of wind, encasing the user and repelling incoming attacks. It can also be expanded to protect others near the user. The technique is chakra intensive and marshals' difficulty in the learner trying to master the technique as it requires the user to rotate a fast-moving barrier of wind around not just themselves but anyone or anything in their immediate vicinity that they are trying to protect. High level Fire Style Ninjutsu can pierce the thin rotating barrier of wind and turn the entire construct into a flaming death trap for the user and things inside that they are trying to protect if this technique is used at the wrong place, time, and against the wrong opposing force.
45.) Fire Style: Mouse Hair Ball Jutsu - The user transforms their spit into a flaming ball of hair that assumes the shape of a mouse engulfed in flames, which then continually splits into individual and similarly ablaze balls of hair. These flaming projectiles pursue the intended targets before exploding, once they come into contact with an object.
46.) Gale Style: Laser Circus Jutsu - This technique creates several beams and shoots them at the enemy. First, a halo of bright energy spreads around the user's hands as this technique is activated, then it encircles the user's hand and from that, the beams are shot out towards the enemy. The user is able to alter the beam's direction after being shot, making it possible to strike multiple enemies with pinpoint accuracy, even bypassing hostages held in close proximity. The user can also increase the number of beams to a great amount to pin down an enemy.
47.) Kenjutsu: Hazard Slice - An upgrade and advanced form of the One Slice technique, the user swings their sword at such a high rate of speed that a shockwave forms and blows back anything in the vicinity. In addition, clean razor-sharp cuts appear on anything caught in the swing of the sword. This technique is actually the follow up combo technique to Shoko's Hazard Blade Dance hence the similarity in name.
48.) Yōjutsu: Shattering Glacial Spears - The demonic version to Naruto's Ice Style: Ice Glacier Jutsu. Channeling a massive amount of Yōki into his attack Naruto swipes his hand forward after hovering it above the ground causing a massive wall of ice and snow to rip the ground apart in front of him and then surge forward in an unstoppable advancing wave of sharp shards and spears of amethyst colored ice. The power of the technique is so powerful that it can rip through heavily armed military vehicles such as trains, ships, and defensive walls while soft targets such as civilian homes and city buildings can be utterly demolished without any form of resistance.
49.) Fire Body Flicker Jutsu - The elemental version of a standard Body Flicker Jutsu. Imbuing themselves with Fire Nature Chakra at the onset of the transportation burst the user becomes shrouded in a veil of flames and ember sparks masking the direction of their travel from the eyes of their enemy during high speed shinobi combat. This technique like with all standard and elemental variants of the Jutsu can be performed in combat, in transit traveling to a long distance destination, or to simple do short bursts to get from Point A to Point B in civilian settings.
50.) Ice Style: Icicle Impact Jutsu - A Jutsu that Naruto developed that allows him to slam into an area and create a massive construct of ice that breaks apart and cuts deeply into anything in the surrounding area with millions of little icicle shards. It is an area effect Jutsu that covers large distances.
- Version 1 Cloak - Forms a dense shroud of chakra around the jinchūriki. The shroud, a translucent red with bubbles of chakra (reminiscent of boiling liquid) forming all along it, provides a degree of physical protection, but can also harm the user if used to a certain extent. The physical changes experienced in the initial transformation become more pronounced in Version 1 forms. The shroud that encompasses the jinchūriki vaguely resembles the corresponding tailed beast; paws of chakra form around their hands and any other defining characteristics will emerge as well such as cat ears, fox ears, horns, shells, and others. Because chakra is malleable, the shroud can extend beyond the reach of the jinchūriki, often used to create chakra-arms that allow them to interact with their environment. The most significant manifestation are the tails that sprout from the jinchūriki's body, up to the maximum number of tails that the corresponding beast possesses. As with the chakra-arms, these tails can aid the jinchūriki by grasping to their surroundings. For each tail produced, the jinchūriki gains an incrementally greater boost to speed, strength, and chakra.
The source of the chakra shroud differs between users. For jinchūriki who have not learned how to control their tailed beast, it is the beast's chakra that surrounds them. The beast's chakra will tend to be harmful: individuals near the jinchūriki will experience a slight physical discomfort; those who come into contact with the shroud will suffer a painful burn wherever they touch it; the jinchūriki themselves suffer an increasing amount of corrosion to their body that can eventually damage body parts beyond the point of use. This shroud is typically acquired through a growing rage and/or the weakening of the seal that keeps the beast within their body, and consequently leaves the jinchūriki less in control of their body with each additional tail. While a jinchūriki has never been observed to completely lose control of themselves in a Version 1 form, they become more animalistic and aggressive. One advantage of this is that the shroud can act on its own, responding to threats the jinchūriki may not be aware of. A secondary means of entering a Version 1 state is when a host uses his own chakra in the shroud's formation after gaining mutual cooperation with their Tailed Beast.
- Version 2 Cloak - This state is the Tailed Beasts' chakra being converted into a humanoid shape, granting the jinchūriki an edge in battle without completely releasing the beast itself. Using the jinchūriki's body as a sort of endoskeleton, a dark red, nearly black layer of chakra envelops them. The physical manifestations of the corresponding beast that are vaguely present in Version 1 states become far clearer in Version 2, in a way fully reproducing the beast in miniature: muscle mass increases and beast-specific attributes such as shells and ears become clearly defined. Because the shroud forms so tightly around them, features of the jinchūriki may be identifiable in Version 2. Entering Version 2 creates a great deal of energy, producing craters beneath the jinchūriki and destroying any restraints that might have been placed upon them beforehand. Strength, speed, and chakra are once again increased beyond the levels of the previous forms, the shroud remains a reliable defence against attacks, and other features, such as chakra-arms, are still accessible. It is even possible for the jinchūriki to create chakra-bones around themselves.
51.) Lightning Style Secret Technique: Black Panther - After generating black lightning from their body, Darui releases it in the form a panther to shock anyone that comes into contact with it. Its quick movement allows it to be used to take out multiple opponents. By using this in a battle on water, it can be spread out to cover a wide range.
52.) Summoning Jutsu: Bring Down the House Jutsu - The user summons a toad in the air, which falls to the ground. On impact, the ground shakes, structures are destroyed, and the user's targets are pinned beneath the toad's weight, preventing them from moving.
53.) Water Style: Severing Wave Jutsu - After kneading chakra in the stomach and converting it into water, the user spews it out as a high-pressure stream that is powerful enough to cut cleanly through steel.
54.) Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms - A maneuver of the Gentle Fist fighting style. It is essentially a halved version of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms but seems to be no less effective. This technique is used to close off the flow of chakra through thirty-two chakra points of an opponent's chakra pathway system. This eliminates their ability to use chakra for quite some time and makes it difficult for them to move.
55.) Eight Trigrams Gentle Step: Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms - Created by Hinata as her ultimate trump card and defense in order to circumvent her shortcomings with the Rotation and in a bid to reinvent her families style and surpass her limits she spent years perfecting this technique where she finally perfects it to complete mastery upon becoming a Jōnin; this is a highly versatile technique which affords both offensive and defensive capabilities whereby she emits a constant stream of chakra from her palms, which are formed into extremely thin, sharp, blades. While using this technique offensively, Hinata shapes the chakra into thin, sharp, flexible blades allowing her to hit hundreds of targets with extreme precision and can cut smaller targets, like bees, into pieces. When used defensively, Hinata creates much larger, stronger, more flexible, arc-shaped chakra blades that spread out across her entire attack range, effectively forming a barricade between herself and her opponents, rebuffing even the largest and smallest of targets. With the addition of Hinata's flexibility, the technique creates an "absolute defense" effect similar to that of the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, though the cutting nature of the chakra prevents any outside force from restricting it.
56.) Ninja Art: Toxic Spikes Jutsu - An extremely versatile and defensive technique that allows Shizune to pump out a massive dosage of poisonous chakra into the ground that takes the form of dozens of small vectors that spread out across the ground in a spiderweb like fashion with each vector ending in a poisonous node that ripples out once it settles into the ground. This defensive net makes it impossible for a target to approach the user as the locations of the actual poisonous nodes are hidden if the target is unable to keep track of the vectors when the user initially casts the technique. If the target steps on a poisonous node then the actual spike will shoot out of the ground stabbing the victim in the foot causing an immediate effect. The one downside to the technique is that the poisonous spikes can be destroyed if the earth is dug up or unsettled by a strong enough forces such as an Earth Style Ninjutsu or Water Style Ninjutsu that can tear through the ground.
57.) Fūinjutsu: Contract Seal Removal - When the user implements this Fūinjutsu on a summoner, it removes any direct control the summoner has over a summoned creature. Close contact appears to be required for the implementation of the seal. Though the Contract Seal removes the summoner's ability to control the summon, it does not give the user of the Fūinjutsu the ability to control the summon in turn. Doing this, however, seems to negate the time limit that a controlled summoning creature is in the present place.
58.) Fūinjutsu: Contract Seal Overwrite - The second step to the Contract Seal Removal technique, this Jutsu allows a user to overcome the limitation that the first technique has and take control of any creature or summoning animal and use them for the user's own use. With the creature's permission if it is sentient the user can use this technique to form a permanent Summoning Contract with the creature. Using the ancient Uzumaki Style of pure Fūinjutsu Naruto can convert the base of this contract into a Magic Summoning Contract that allows him to summon a creature through a Magic Summoning Circle that takes less energy.
59.) Binding Contract Magic: Familiar Binding - An extremely useful magical technique that allows the user to bind an animal to them temporarily to make them their familiar. While in a contract together the user can share their senses with the animal allowing for advanced scouting options without the risk of the user being in danger. The more animals that are bound to the user at a single time will cause an increasing amount of stress and pressure on the user due to the strain of sharing their senses with so many others simultaneously.
60.) Uzumaki Style Sealing - After forming the necessary hand seals, the user slams their hand on the ground after which a unique spiral shaped sealing formula which originates from the user's hand forms underneath the target. When the seal activates, anything above the inscription is sealed within the formula itself.
Author's Note (A/N): To say that Naruto and Hinata have grown exponentially stronger coming out of this conflict would be a vast understatement. Their rate of growth and prestigious learning curve will continue to exponentially expand and grow as time goes on. A lot happened and was eventually covered and completed within this chapter with every combat capable character within the scenes with the exceptions of Eva and Kiyoi being given a large spotlight to shine. As far as Eva is concerned her time will come with the next few chapters providing her a chance to have many scenes including a few battle scenes as well.
One of the biggest elephants in the room to get out the way would be the inclusion of this mysterious and unknown third faction which has already been hinted at in the previous chapter and their own private agenda. Who or what are they and what is their end goal in spying on the Uzumaki Family and even rigging their hotel suite with explosives from right underneath their noses without any of them being any the wisers. Not to mention the clear theft and seizure of some of the contraband being imported by the Black Sun.
Beginning with Atsui's clear self absorbed hatred and reckless abandon has landed him and his team into hot water no pun intended. It's also caused him to bare the brunt of the repercussions caused by his own actions such as him nearly dying to Naruto's rage induced Rasengan and Shoko administering her own form of marshal punishment that would kill any lesser man if not for the fact she manually lowered the power of her strike that still in the end one shotted the emotionally unstable Genin.
From Hinata's perspective we see that she has grown tremendously in both body and spirit with these new changes within her becoming even more apparent than a week prior in her teams engagements of the Bandit Camps inhabitants which included a undercover cell of Hidden Waterfall Kunoichi and later Balalaika and her own team as well. Hinata's vast growth in maturity and shinobi abilities will continue to be explored and vastly expanded upon in the sequels to this story as she is far and removed away from getting anywhere close to the peak of her true power. As far as maturity and tactical judgement is concerned Hinata shines through the most compared to the other characters in this chapter as it shows a great highlight on how she has grown very independant and forward thinking on how to handle Naruto's mood swings as well as the ever rapidly changing danger to them all. We also get a little more insight into her trip to the Hidden Sand during her deployment and the interesting people she's met as cameos for characters we'll see in the future.
Iris, Chaos, and Aria all got a chance to shine as they took on and handily dealt with the incursion by Kitagawa and his squad of thugs who turned out to be supernatural creatures in disguise. The fights really highlight the diversity amongst the girl's personalities and how they handle their fights. For Iris we see an aloof and somewhat blase nature that is mixed in with a stern and commanding aura to dealing with threats. Aria displays a composed and serious composure throughout her fights as she methodically responds to every act of aggression against her until she has her opponent backed into a corner where even if its against her own morals she will harden her heart and mercilessly kill any opponent who threatens the safety of her charges. With Chaos we get her typical brand of insanity and instability rolled up into one where she will lazily play around with her opponent by tormenting, taunting, and outright torturing them into submission to feast off of their despair to feed herself and make herself stronger.
When it comes to Princess Naho's involvement she herself doesn't play an active role in the fighting but her presence is meant to reflect upon the moral compass Naruto must walk and where he must place his priorities in his endeavors. She was nearly injured by the Ogre Monster grasping her within its clutches. The relationship between Naho and Naruto will continue to develop and evolve over time as he gets more and more tangled up in the jumbled web that is the royal family. Darui recognizing her at the very end of the chapter is also of note with regards to how he and by extension the Hidden Cloud will view Naruto and subsequently Hinata as well as persons.
Darui and Yugito's contributions to helping the Uzumaki complete what was essentially their mission speaks volumes to their character as people as we get a clear insight into their personalities and character with their spoken and unspoken actions. It would appear on the surface that Yugito is gaining her very first crush on a person in her lifetime as its starting out as her being charmed and smittened by Naruto's very presence which predictably isn't to Hinata's liking at all while Darui goes out of his way to apologize to Hinata for the bad blood between his village and her clan specifically. This heart felt and genuine apology not only offers an insight into Darui's integrity and character as a human being but it helps to lift the burden on Hinata's heart and the trauma that she's been carrying around with her.
Finally, Ota Hidemichi's fate is left to the wind as he makes a desperate and life threatening escape by the skin of his teeth setting things in motion for him to one day return for revenge against his sworn enemies. His entire operation went up in smoke right before his very eyes along with his two best friends being killed as a result of the path they chose to walk together. His grave injuries and quick descent into madness and frustration will become his all consuming purpose in life which can only mean trouble for the Uzumaki Clan in the future.
This chapter was a monumental mountain that I had to climb as writer's block and depression ate away at my soul and my will to continue writing. The lack of motivation and initiative on my end was a toxic cloud that hung over me for many months over the past year. Lately within the past three months I've been getting a lot of motivation and inspiration back into me and as such I've been brainstorming and writing down a lot of ideas, notes, guidelines, and future plot points for the story that has now evolved past what my old ideas were and now after many months of not being able to move past a certain point within this chapter I've finally come back to my keyboard and cranked out the second half of this chapter and completed it to my standards. I've spent many sleepless nights trying to trudge through the mud pit that was my depression and writer's block and I've made this chapter extra long to make up for my extended hiatus. I hope everyone enjoys it despite its length which I hope wasn't a turn off and detracter for making it all the way here to the end.
Hopefully now that I'm on the up and up I can produce one or two more chapters before the year of 2021 comes to an end. That is my personal goal towards myself at least but I won't be placing any unrealistic and unfavorable expectations upon my head or that of the readers. When the chapters come to me naturally and makes me happy to produce them then they will be published immediately and happily without delay.
Next Chapter: Chapter 96 (Beware the Beast)
That's the end of Chapter 95 I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it.
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Published: 11/6/2021